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Radoman M, Phan KL, Ajilore OA, Gorka SM. Altered effective connectivity during threat anticipation in individuals with alcohol use disorder. BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY. COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE AND NEUROIMAGING 2024:S2451-9022(24)00211-8. [PMID: 39117274 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2024.07.023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2024] [Revised: 07/18/2024] [Accepted: 07/30/2024] [Indexed: 08/10/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND A developing theory and recent research suggest that heightened reactivity to uncertain stressors or threats may be an important individual difference factor that facilitates excessive drinking as a means of avoidance-based coping and characterizes individuals with current and past alcohol use disorder (AUD). Neuroimaging studies of unpredictable threat processing have repeatedly demonstrated activation of the anterior insula (AIC), anteromedial (AM) thalamus and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC). The present study aimed to understand how these three regions function as a network during anticipation of unpredictable threat (and predictable threat). METHODS Participants were 43 young adults (aged 21-30) with AUD and 26 healthy controls. Functional magnetic resonance imaging and dynamic causal modeling were used to study inter-regional effective connectivities and predictable and unpredictable threat-related modulations thereof within this network. Parametric empirical Bayesian modeling was used to conduct between-group comparisons in effective connectivities. RESULTS During unpredictable threat trials, the increased projection from the right AM thalamus to the right AIC was significantly present only in the AUD group. This directional influence was stronger among individuals who on average consumed more drinks per week. As expected, we found no group differences in modulatory changes to effective connectivities during predictable threat trials. CONCLUSIONS To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine directional interactions between key frontolimbic regions during anticipation of unpredictable and predictable threat and demonstrate the importance of 'bottom-up' thalamic-insular projections during unpredictable threat processing in AUD. Prospective studies are warranted to determine whether this association may be causal.
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Affiliation(s)
- Milena Radoman
- Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, Yale University, 2 Church Street South, New Haven, CT 06511, USA; Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1601 W Taylor Street, Chicago, IL 60612, USA.
| | - K Luan Phan
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Ohio State University, 1670 Upham Drive, Columbus, OH 43205, USA
| | - Olusola A Ajilore
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois at Chicago, 1601 W Taylor Street, Chicago, IL 60612, USA
| | - Stephanie M Gorka
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Ohio State University, 1670 Upham Drive, Columbus, OH 43205, USA
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Tang G, Zhou H, Zeng C, Jiang Y, Li Y, Hou L, Liao K, Tan Z, Wu H, Tang Y, Cheng Y, Ling X, Guo Q, Xu H. Alterations of apparent diffusion coefficient from ultra high b-values in the bilateral thalamus and striatum in MRI-negative drug-resistant epilepsy. Epilepsia Open 2024; 9:1515-1525. [PMID: 38943548 PMCID: PMC11296122 DOI: 10.1002/epi4.12990] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2023] [Revised: 04/01/2024] [Accepted: 05/26/2024] [Indexed: 07/01/2024] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Subcortical nuclei such as the thalamus and striatum have been shown to be related to seizure modulation and termination, especially in drug-resistant epilepsy. Enhance diffusion-weighted imaging (eDWI) technique and tri-component model have been used in previous studies to calculate apparent diffusion coefficient from ultra high b-values (ADCuh). This study aimed to explore the alterations of ADCuh in the bilateral thalamus and striatum in MRI-negative drug-resistant epilepsy. METHODS Twenty-nine patients with MRI-negative drug-resistant epilepsy and 18 healthy controls underwent eDWI scan with 15 b-values (0-5000 s/mm2). The eDWI parameters including standard ADC (ADCst), pure water diffusion (D), and ADCuh were calculated from the 15 b-values. Regions-of-interest (ROIs) analyses were conducted in the bilateral thalamus, caudate nucleus, putamen, and globus pallidus. ADCst, D, and ADCuh values were compared between the MRI-negative drug-resistant epilepsy patients and controls using multivariate generalized linear models. Inter-rater reliability was assessed using the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) and Bland-Altman (BA) analysis. False discovery rate (FDR) method was applied for multiple comparisons correction. RESULTS ADCuh values in the bilateral thalamus, caudate nucleus, putamen, and globus pallidus in MRI-negative drug-resistant epilepsy were significantly higher than those in the healthy control subjects (all p < 0.05, FDR corrected). SIGNIFICANCE The alterations of the ADCuh values in the bilateral thalamus and striatum in MRI-negative drug-resistant epilepsy might reflect abnormal membrane water permeability in MRI-negative drug-resistant epilepsy. ADCuh might be a sensitive measurement for evaluating subcortical nuclei-related brain damage in epilepsy patients. PLAIN LANGUAGE SUMMARY This study aimed to explore the alterations of apparent diffusion coefficient calculated from ultra high b-values (ADCuh) in the subcortical nuclei such as the bilateral thalamus and striatum in MRI-negative drug-resistant epilepsy. The bilateral thalamus and striatum showed higher ADCuh in epilepsy patients than healthy controls. These findings may add new evidences of subcortical nuclei abnormalities related to water and ion hemostasis in epilepsy patients, which might help to elucidate the underlying epileptic neuropathophysiological mechanisms and facilitate the exploration of therapeutic targets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guixian Tang
- Department of Nuclear Medicine, PET/CT‐MRI Center, Center of Cyclotron and PET RadiopharmaceuticalsThe First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan UniversityGuangzhouChina
| | - Hailing Zhou
- Department of RadiologyCentral People's Hospital of ZhanjiangZhanjiangChina
| | - Chunyuan Zeng
- Department of Nuclear Medicine, PET/CT‐MRI Center, Center of Cyclotron and PET RadiopharmaceuticalsThe First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan UniversityGuangzhouChina
| | - Yuanfang Jiang
- Department of Nuclear Medicine, PET/CT‐MRI Center, Center of Cyclotron and PET RadiopharmaceuticalsThe First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan UniversityGuangzhouChina
| | - Ying Li
- Department of Nuclear Medicine, PET/CT‐MRI Center, Center of Cyclotron and PET RadiopharmaceuticalsThe First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan UniversityGuangzhouChina
| | - Lu Hou
- Department of Nuclear Medicine, PET/CT‐MRI Center, Center of Cyclotron and PET RadiopharmaceuticalsThe First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan UniversityGuangzhouChina
| | - Kai Liao
- Department of Nuclear Medicine, PET/CT‐MRI Center, Center of Cyclotron and PET RadiopharmaceuticalsThe First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan UniversityGuangzhouChina
| | - Zhiqiang Tan
- Department of Nuclear Medicine, PET/CT‐MRI Center, Center of Cyclotron and PET RadiopharmaceuticalsThe First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan UniversityGuangzhouChina
| | - Huanhua Wu
- Department of Nuclear Medicine, PET/CT‐MRI Center, Center of Cyclotron and PET RadiopharmaceuticalsThe First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan UniversityGuangzhouChina
| | - Yongjin Tang
- Department of Nuclear Medicine, PET/CT‐MRI Center, Center of Cyclotron and PET RadiopharmaceuticalsThe First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan UniversityGuangzhouChina
| | - Yong Cheng
- Department of Nuclear Medicine, PET/CT‐MRI Center, Center of Cyclotron and PET RadiopharmaceuticalsThe First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan UniversityGuangzhouChina
| | - Xueying Ling
- Department of Nuclear Medicine, PET/CT‐MRI Center, Center of Cyclotron and PET RadiopharmaceuticalsThe First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan UniversityGuangzhouChina
| | - Qiang Guo
- Epilepsy Center, Guangdong 999 Brain HospitalAffiliated Brain Hospital of Jinan UniversityGuangzhouChina
| | - Hao Xu
- Department of Nuclear Medicine, PET/CT‐MRI Center, Center of Cyclotron and PET RadiopharmaceuticalsThe First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan UniversityGuangzhouChina
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Mo C, McKinnon C, Murray Sherman S. A transthalamic pathway crucial for perception. Nat Commun 2024; 15:6300. [PMID: 39060240 PMCID: PMC11282105 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-50163-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2024] [Accepted: 06/28/2024] [Indexed: 07/28/2024] Open
Abstract
Perception is largely supported by cortical processing that involves communication among multiple areas, typically starting with primary sensory cortex and then involving higher order cortices. This communication is served in part by transthalamic (cortico-thalamo-cortical) pathways, which ubiquitously parallel direct corticocortical pathways, but their role in sensory processing has largely remained unexplored. Here, we suggest that transthalamic processing propagates task-relevant information required for correct sensory decisions. Using optogenetics, we specifically inhibited the pathway at its synapse in higher order somatosensory thalamus of mice performing a texture-based discrimination task. We concurrently monitored the cellular effects of inhibition in primary or secondary cortex using two-photon calcium imaging. Inhibition severely impaired performance despite intact direct corticocortical projections, thus challenging the purely corticocentric map of perception. Interestingly, the inhibition did not reduce overall cell responsiveness to texture stimulation in somatosensory cortex, but rather disrupted the texture selectivity of cells, a discriminability that develops over task learning. This discriminability was more disrupted in the secondary than primary somatosensory cortex, emphasizing the feedforward influence of the transthalamic route. Transthalamic pathways may therefore act to deliver performance-relevant information to higher order cortex and are underappreciated hierarchical pathways in perceptual decision-making.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christina Mo
- The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
- Department of Neurobiology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
| | - Claire McKinnon
- Department of Neurobiology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA
| | - S Murray Sherman
- Department of Neurobiology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
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4
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Tauste Campo A, Zainos A, Vázquez Y, Adell Segarra R, Álvarez M, Deco G, Díaz H, Parra S, Romo R, Rossi-Pool R. Thalamocortical interactions shape hierarchical neural variability during stimulus perception. iScience 2024; 27:110065. [PMID: 38993679 PMCID: PMC11237863 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.110065] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/25/2024] [Revised: 05/03/2024] [Accepted: 05/17/2024] [Indexed: 07/13/2024] Open
Abstract
The brain is organized hierarchically to process sensory signals. But, how do functional connections within and across areas contribute to this hierarchical order? We addressed this problem in the thalamocortical network, while monkeys detected vibrotactile stimulus. During this task, we quantified neural variability and directed functional connectivity in simultaneously recorded neurons sharing the cutaneous receptive field within and across VPL and areas 3b and 1. Before stimulus onset, VPL and area 3b exhibited similar fast dynamics while area 1 showed slower timescales. During the stimulus presence, inter-trial neural variability increased along the network VPL-3b-1 while VPL established two main feedforward pathways with areas 3b and 1 to process the stimulus. This lower variability of VPL and area 3b was found to regulate feedforward thalamocortical pathways. Instead, intra-cortical interactions were only anticipated by higher intrinsic timescales in area 1. Overall, our results provide evidence of hierarchical functional roles along the thalamocortical network.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adrià Tauste Campo
- Computational Biology and Complex Systems group, Department of Physics, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Avinguda Dr. Marañón, 44-50, 08028 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Antonio Zainos
- Instituto de Fisiología Celular–Neurociencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City 04510, Mexico
| | - Yuriria Vázquez
- Instituto de Fisiología Celular–Neurociencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City 04510, Mexico
| | - Raul Adell Segarra
- Computational Biology and Complex Systems group, Department of Physics, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Avinguda Dr. Marañón, 44-50, 08028 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Manuel Álvarez
- Instituto de Fisiología Celular–Neurociencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City 04510, Mexico
| | - Gustavo Deco
- Center for Brain and Cognition (CBC), Department of Information Technologies and Communications (DTIC), Pompeu Fabra University, Edifici Mercè Rodoreda, Carrer Trias I Fargas 25-27, 08005 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
- Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), Passeig Lluis Companys 23, 08010 Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Héctor Díaz
- Instituto de Fisiología Celular–Neurociencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City 04510, Mexico
| | - Sergio Parra
- Instituto de Fisiología Celular–Neurociencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City 04510, Mexico
| | | | - Román Rossi-Pool
- Instituto de Fisiología Celular–Neurociencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City 04510, Mexico
- Centro de Ciencias de la Complejidad, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico City, Mexico
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5
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Patton MH, Thomas KT, Bayazitov IT, Newman KD, Kurtz NB, Robinson CG, Ramirez CA, Trevisan AJ, Bikoff JB, Peters ST, Pruett-Miller SM, Jiang Y, Schild AB, Nityanandam A, Zakharenko SS. Synaptic plasticity in human thalamocortical assembloids. Cell Rep 2024; 43:114503. [PMID: 39018245 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2024.114503] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2024] [Revised: 04/23/2024] [Accepted: 06/27/2024] [Indexed: 07/19/2024] Open
Abstract
Synaptic plasticities, such as long-term potentiation (LTP) and depression (LTD), tune synaptic efficacy and are essential for learning and memory. Current studies of synaptic plasticity in humans are limited by a lack of adequate human models. Here, we modeled the thalamocortical system by fusing human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived thalamic and cortical organoids. Single-nucleus RNA sequencing revealed that >80% of cells in thalamic organoids were glutamatergic neurons. When fused to form thalamocortical assembloids, thalamic and cortical organoids formed reciprocal long-range axonal projections and reciprocal synapses detectable by light and electron microscopy, respectively. Using whole-cell patch-clamp electrophysiology and two-photon imaging, we characterized glutamatergic synaptic transmission. Thalamocortical and corticothalamic synapses displayed short-term plasticity analogous to that in animal models. LTP and LTD were reliably induced at both synapses; however, their mechanisms differed from those previously described in rodents. Thus, thalamocortical assembloids provide a model system for exploring synaptic plasticity in human circuits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mary H Patton
- Department of Developmental Neurobiology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN 38105, USA
| | - Kristen T Thomas
- Department of Developmental Neurobiology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN 38105, USA
| | - Ildar T Bayazitov
- Department of Developmental Neurobiology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN 38105, USA
| | - Kyle D Newman
- Department of Developmental Neurobiology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN 38105, USA
| | - Nathaniel B Kurtz
- Cell and Tissue Imaging Center, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN 38105, USA
| | - Camenzind G Robinson
- Cell and Tissue Imaging Center, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN 38105, USA
| | - Cody A Ramirez
- Department of Developmental Neurobiology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN 38105, USA
| | - Alexandra J Trevisan
- Department of Developmental Neurobiology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN 38105, USA
| | - Jay B Bikoff
- Department of Developmental Neurobiology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN 38105, USA
| | - Samuel T Peters
- Center for Advanced Genome Engineering, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN 38105, USA
| | - Shondra M Pruett-Miller
- Center for Advanced Genome Engineering, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN 38105, USA; Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN 38105, USA
| | - Yanbo Jiang
- Department of Developmental Neurobiology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN 38105, USA
| | - Andrew B Schild
- Department of Developmental Neurobiology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN 38105, USA
| | - Anjana Nityanandam
- Department of Developmental Neurobiology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN 38105, USA
| | - Stanislav S Zakharenko
- Department of Developmental Neurobiology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN 38105, USA.
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Thalhammer M, Nimpal M, Schulz J, Meedt V, Menegaux A, Schmitz-Koep B, Daamen M, Boecker H, Zimmer C, Priller J, Wolke D, Bartmann P, Hedderich D, Sorg C. Consistently lower volumes across thalamus nuclei in very premature-born adults. Neuroimage 2024; 297:120732. [PMID: 39004408 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2024.120732] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2024] [Revised: 07/08/2024] [Accepted: 07/11/2024] [Indexed: 07/16/2024] Open
Abstract
Lasting thalamus volume reduction after preterm birth is a prominent finding. However, whether thalamic nuclei volumes are affected differentially by preterm birth and whether nuclei aberrations are relevant for cognitive functioning remains unknown. Using T1-weighted MR-images of 83 adults born very preterm (≤ 32 weeks' gestation; VP) and/or with very low body weight (≤ 1,500 g; VLBW) as well as of 92 full-term born (≥ 37 weeks' gestation) controls, we compared thalamic nuclei volumes of six subregions (anterior, lateral, ventral, intralaminar, medial, and pulvinar) across groups at the age of 26 years. To characterize the functional relevance of volume aberrations, cognitive performance was assessed by full-scale intelligence quotient using the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale and linked to volume reductions using multiple linear regression analyses. Thalamic volumes were significantly lower across all examined nuclei in VP/VLBW adults compared to controls, suggesting an overall rather than focal impairment. Lower nuclei volumes were linked to higher intensity of neonatal treatment, indicating vulnerability to stress exposure after birth. Furthermore, we found that single results for lateral, medial, and pulvinar nuclei volumes were associated with full-scale intelligence quotient in preterm adults, albeit not surviving correction for multiple hypotheses testing. These findings provide evidence that lower thalamic volume in preterm adults is observable across all subregions rather than focused on single nuclei. Data suggest the same mechanisms of aberrant thalamus development across all nuclei after premature birth.
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Affiliation(s)
- Melissa Thalhammer
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, Technical University of Munich, School of Medicine and Health, Munich, Germany; Technical University of Munich, School of Medicine and Health, TUM-NIC Neuroimaging Center, Munich, Germany.
| | - Mehul Nimpal
- Faculty of Biology, Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
| | - Julia Schulz
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, Technical University of Munich, School of Medicine and Health, Munich, Germany; Technical University of Munich, School of Medicine and Health, TUM-NIC Neuroimaging Center, Munich, Germany
| | - Veronica Meedt
- Faculty of Biology, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
| | - Aurore Menegaux
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, Technical University of Munich, School of Medicine and Health, Munich, Germany; Technical University of Munich, School of Medicine and Health, TUM-NIC Neuroimaging Center, Munich, Germany
| | - Benita Schmitz-Koep
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, Technical University of Munich, School of Medicine and Health, Munich, Germany; Technical University of Munich, School of Medicine and Health, TUM-NIC Neuroimaging Center, Munich, Germany
| | - Marcel Daamen
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Hospital Bonn, Clinical Functional Imaging Group, Bonn, Germany; Department of Neonatology and Pediatric Intensive Care, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany
| | - Henning Boecker
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University Hospital Bonn, Clinical Functional Imaging Group, Bonn, Germany
| | - Claus Zimmer
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, Technical University of Munich, School of Medicine and Health, Munich, Germany; Technical University of Munich, School of Medicine and Health, TUM-NIC Neuroimaging Center, Munich, Germany
| | - Josef Priller
- Department of Psychiatry, Technical University of Munich, School of Medicine and Health, Munich, Germany
| | - Dieter Wolke
- Department of Psychology, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK; Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK
| | - Peter Bartmann
- Department of Neonatology and Pediatric Intensive Care, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany
| | - Dennis Hedderich
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, Technical University of Munich, School of Medicine and Health, Munich, Germany; Technical University of Munich, School of Medicine and Health, TUM-NIC Neuroimaging Center, Munich, Germany
| | - Christian Sorg
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, Technical University of Munich, School of Medicine and Health, Munich, Germany; Technical University of Munich, School of Medicine and Health, TUM-NIC Neuroimaging Center, Munich, Germany; Department of Psychiatry, Technical University of Munich, School of Medicine and Health, Munich, Germany
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7
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Abram SV, Hua JPY, Nicholas S, Roach B, Keedy S, Sweeney JA, Mathalon DH, Ford JM. Pons-to-Cerebellum Hypoconnectivity Along the Psychosis Spectrum and Associations With Sensory Prediction and Hallucinations in Schizophrenia. BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY. COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE AND NEUROIMAGING 2024; 9:693-702. [PMID: 38311290 PMCID: PMC11227403 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2024.01.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2023] [Revised: 01/10/2024] [Accepted: 01/27/2024] [Indexed: 02/10/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Sensory prediction allows the brain to anticipate and parse incoming self-generated sensory information from externally generated signals. Sensory prediction breakdowns may contribute to perceptual and agency abnormalities in psychosis (hallucinations, delusions). The pons, a central node in a cortico-ponto-cerebellar-thalamo-cortical circuit, is thought to support sensory prediction. Examination of pons connectivity in schizophrenia and its role in sensory prediction abnormalities is lacking. METHODS We examined these relationships using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging and the electroencephalography-based auditory N1 event-related potential in 143 participants with psychotic spectrum disorders (PSPs) (with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, or bipolar disorder); 63 first-degree relatives of individuals with psychosis; 45 people at clinical high risk for psychosis; and 124 unaffected comparison participants. This unique sample allowed examination across the psychosis spectrum and illness trajectory. Seeding from the pons, we extracted average connectivity values from thalamic and cerebellar clusters showing differences between PSPs and unaffected comparison participants. We predicted N1 amplitude attenuation during a vocalization task from pons connectivity and group membership. We correlated participant-level connectivity in PSPs and people at clinical high risk for psychosis with hallucination and delusion severity. RESULTS Compared to unaffected comparison participants, PSPs showed pons hypoconnectivity to 2 cerebellar clusters, and first-degree relatives of individuals with psychosis showed hypoconnectivity to 1 of these clusters. Pons-to-cerebellum connectivity was positively correlated with N1 attenuation; only PSPs with heightened pons-to-postcentral gyrus connectivity showed this pattern, suggesting a possible compensatory mechanism. Pons-to-cerebellum hypoconnectivity was correlated with greater hallucination severity specifically among PSPs with schizophrenia. CONCLUSIONS Deficient pons-to-cerebellum connectivity linked sensory prediction network breakdowns with perceptual abnormalities in schizophrenia. Findings highlight shared features and clinical heterogeneity across the psychosis spectrum.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samantha V Abram
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California; San Francisco Veterans Affairs Health Care System, San Francisco, California
| | - Jessica P Y Hua
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California; San Francisco Veterans Affairs Health Care System, San Francisco, California
| | - Spero Nicholas
- San Francisco Veterans Affairs Health Care System, San Francisco, California
| | - Brian Roach
- San Francisco Veterans Affairs Health Care System, San Francisco, California
| | - Sarah Keedy
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
| | - John A Sweeney
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio
| | - Daniel H Mathalon
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California; San Francisco Veterans Affairs Health Care System, San Francisco, California
| | - Judith M Ford
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California; San Francisco Veterans Affairs Health Care System, San Francisco, California.
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8
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Seo J, Min BK. Non-invasive electrical brain stimulation modulates human conscious perception of mental representation. Neuroimage 2024; 294:120647. [PMID: 38761552 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2024.120647] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2024] [Revised: 05/09/2024] [Accepted: 05/13/2024] [Indexed: 05/20/2024] Open
Abstract
Mental representation is a key concept in cognitive science; nevertheless, its neural foundations remain elusive. We employed non-invasive electrical brain stimulation and functional magnetic resonance imaging to address this. During this process, participants perceived flickering red and green visual stimuli, discerning them either as distinct, non-fused colours or as a mentally generated, fused colour (orange). The application of transcranial alternating current stimulation to the medial prefrontal region (a key node of the default-mode network) suppressed haemodynamic activation in higher-order subthalamic and central executive networks associated with the perception of fused colours. This implies that higher-order thalamocortical and default-mode networks are crucial in humans' conscious perception of mental representation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeehye Seo
- Institute of Brain and Cognitive Engineering, Korea University, Seoul 02841, South Korea; BK21 Four Institute of Precision Public Health, Korea University, Seoul 02841, South Korea
| | - Byoung-Kyong Min
- Institute of Brain and Cognitive Engineering, Korea University, Seoul 02841, South Korea; BK21 Four Institute of Precision Public Health, Korea University, Seoul 02841, South Korea; Department of Brain and Cognitive Engineering, Korea University, Seoul 02841, South Korea.
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9
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Moazeni O, Northoff G, Batouli SAH. The subcortical brain regions influence the cortical areas during resting-state: an fMRI study. Front Hum Neurosci 2024; 18:1363125. [PMID: 39055533 PMCID: PMC11271203 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2024.1363125] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/29/2023] [Accepted: 06/06/2024] [Indexed: 07/27/2024] Open
Abstract
Introduction Numerous modes or patterns of neural activity can be seen in the brain of individuals during the resting state. However, those functions do not persist long, and they are continuously altering in the brain. We have hypothesized that the brain activations during the resting state should themselves be responsible for this alteration of the activities. Methods Using the resting-state fMRI data of 63 healthy young individuals, we estimated the causality effects of each resting-state activation map on all other networks. The resting-state networks were identified, their causality effects on the other components were extracted, the networks with the top 20% of the causality were chosen, and the networks which were under the influence of those causal networks were also identified. Results Our results showed that the influence of each activation component over other components is different. The brain areas which showed the highest causality coefficients were subcortical regions, such as the brain stem, thalamus, and amygdala. On the other hand, nearly all the areas which were mostly under the causal effects were cortical regions. Discussion In summary, our results suggest that subcortical brain areas exert a higher influence on cortical regions during the resting state, which could help in a better understanding the dynamic nature of brain functions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Omid Moazeni
- Department of Neuroscience and Addiction Studies, School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | - Georg Northoff
- Mind, Brain Imaging and Neuroethics Research Unit, The Royal’s Institute of Mental Health Research, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada
| | - Seyed Amir Hossein Batouli
- Department of Neuroscience and Addiction Studies, School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
- BrainEE Research Group, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
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10
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Koster KP, Sherman SM. Convergence of inputs from the basal ganglia with layer 5 of motor cortex and cerebellum in mouse motor thalamus. eLife 2024; 13:e97489. [PMID: 38856045 PMCID: PMC11208046 DOI: 10.7554/elife.97489] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2024] [Accepted: 06/06/2024] [Indexed: 06/11/2024] Open
Abstract
A key to motor control is the motor thalamus, where several inputs converge. One excitatory input originates from layer 5 of primary motor cortex (M1L5), while another arises from the deep cerebellar nuclei (Cb). M1L5 terminals distribute throughout the motor thalamus and overlap with GABAergic inputs from the basal ganglia output nuclei, the internal segment of the globus pallidus (GPi), and substantia nigra pars reticulata (SNr). In contrast, it is thought that Cb and basal ganglia inputs are segregated. Therefore, we hypothesized that one potential function of the GABAergic inputs from basal ganglia is to selectively inhibit, or gate, excitatory signals from M1L5 in the motor thalamus. Here, we tested this possibility and determined the circuit organization of mouse (both sexes) motor thalamus using an optogenetic strategy in acute slices. First, we demonstrated the presence of a feedforward transthalamic pathway from M1L5 through motor thalamus. Importantly, we discovered that GABAergic inputs from the GPi and SNr converge onto single motor thalamic cells with excitatory synapses from M1L5. Separately, we also demonstrate that, perhaps unexpectedly, GABAergic GPi and SNr inputs converge with those from the Cb. We interpret these results to indicate that a role of the basal ganglia is to gate the thalamic transmission of M1L5 and Cb information to cortex.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kevin P Koster
- Department of Neurobiology, University of ChicagoChicagoUnited States
| | - S Murray Sherman
- Department of Neurobiology, University of ChicagoChicagoUnited States
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Lu Y, Lin Z, Li M, Zhuang Y, Nie B, Lei J, Zhao Y, Zhao H. Three-phase Enriched Environment Improves Post-stroke Gait Dysfunction via Facilitating Neuronal Plasticity in the Bilateral Sensorimotor Cortex: A Multimodal MRI/PET Analysis in Rats. Neurosci Bull 2024; 40:719-731. [PMID: 38055107 PMCID: PMC11178725 DOI: 10.1007/s12264-023-01155-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2023] [Accepted: 08/22/2023] [Indexed: 12/07/2023] Open
Abstract
The three-phase Enriched Environment (EE) paradigm has been shown to promote post-stroke functional improvement, but the neuronal mechanisms are still unclear. In this study, we applied a multimodal neuroimaging protocol combining magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET) to examine the effects of post-ischemic EE treatment on structural and functional neuroplasticity in the bilateral sensorimotor cortex. Rats were subjected to permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion. The motor function of the rats was examined using the DigiGait test. MRI was applied to investigate the EE-induced structural modifications of the bilateral sensorimotor cortex. [18F]-fluorodeoxyglucose PET was used to detect glucose metabolism. Blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD)-functional MRI (fMRI) was used to identify the regional brain activity and functional connectivity (FC). In addition, the expression of neuroplasticity-related signaling pathways including neurotrophic factors (BDNF/CREB), axonal guidance proteins (Robo1/Slit2), and axonal growth-inhibitory proteins (NogoA/NgR) as well as downstream proteins (RhoA/ROCK) in the bilateral sensorimotor cortex were measured by Western blots. Our results showed the three-phase EE improved the walking ability. Structural T2 mapping imaging and diffusion tensor imaging demonstrated that EE benefited structure integrity in the bilateral sensorimotor cortex. PET-MRI fused images showed improved glucose metabolism in the corresponding regions after EE intervention. Specifically, the BOLD-based amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations showed that EE increased spontaneous activity in the bilateral motor cortex and ipsilateral sensory cortex. In addition, FC results showed increased sensorimotor connectivity in the ipsilateral hemisphere and increased interhemispheric motor cortical connectivity and motor cortical-thalamic connectivity following EE intervention. In addition, a strong correlation was found between increased functional connectivity and improved motor performance of limbs. Specifically, EE regulated the expression of neuroplasticity-related signaling, involving BDNF/CREB, Slit2/Robo1, as well as the axonal growth-inhibitory pathways Nogo-A/Nogo receptor and RhoA/ROCK in the bilateral sensorimotor cortex. Our results indicated that the three-phase enriched environment paradigm enhances neuronal plasticity of the bilateral sensorimotor cortex and consequently ameliorates post-stroke gait deficits. These findings might provide some new clues for the development of EE and thus facilitate the clinical translation of EE.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yun Lu
- School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100069, China
- Beijing Key Lab of TCM Collateral Disease Theory Research, Beijing, 100069, China
| | - Ziyue Lin
- School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100069, China
- Beijing Key Lab of TCM Collateral Disease Theory Research, Beijing, 100069, China
| | - Mingcong Li
- School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100069, China
- Beijing Key Lab of TCM Collateral Disease Theory Research, Beijing, 100069, China
| | - Yuming Zhuang
- School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100069, China
- Beijing Key Lab of TCM Collateral Disease Theory Research, Beijing, 100069, China
| | - Binbin Nie
- Beijing Engineering Research Center of Radiographic Techniques and Equipment, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
| | - Jianfeng Lei
- Medical Imaging Laboratory of Core Facility Center, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100069, China
| | - Yuanyuan Zhao
- Medical Imaging Laboratory of Core Facility Center, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100069, China
| | - Hui Zhao
- School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100069, China.
- Beijing Key Lab of TCM Collateral Disease Theory Research, Beijing, 100069, China.
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Alshehri A, Koussis N, Al-Iedani O, Khormi I, Lea R, Ramadan S, Lechner-Scott J. Improvement of the thalamocortical white matter network in people with stable treated relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis over time. NMR IN BIOMEDICINE 2024; 37:e5119. [PMID: 38383137 DOI: 10.1002/nbm.5119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2023] [Revised: 12/28/2023] [Accepted: 01/18/2024] [Indexed: 02/23/2024]
Abstract
Advanced imaging techniques (tractography) enable the mapping of white matter (WM) pathways and the understanding of brain connectivity patterns. We combined tractography with a network-based approach to examine WM microstructure on a network level in people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (pw-RRMS) and healthy controls (HCs) over 2 years. Seventy-six pw-RRMS matched with 43 HCs underwent clinical assessments and 3T MRI scans at baseline (BL) and 2-year follow-up (2-YFU). Probabilistic tractography was performed, accounting for the effect of lesions, producing connectomes of 25 million streamlines. Network differences in fibre density across pw-RRMS and HCs at BL and 2-YFU were quantified using network-based statistics (NBS). Longitudinal network differences in fibre density were quantified using NBS in pw-RRMS, and were tested for correlations with disability, cognition and fatigue scores. Widespread network reductions in fibre density were found in pw-RRMS compared with HCs at BL in cortical regions, with more reductions detected at 2-YFU. Pw-RRMS had reduced fibre density at BL in the thalamocortical network compared to 2-YFU. This effect appeared after correction for age, was robust across different thresholds, and did not correlate with lesion volume or disease duration. Pw-RRMS demonstrated a robust and long-distance improvement in the thalamocortical WM network, regardless of age, disease burden, duration or therapy, suggesting a potential locus of neuroplasticity in MS. This network's role over the disease's lifespan and its potential implications in prognosis and treatment warrants further investigation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abdulaziz Alshehri
- School of Health Sciences, College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, Australia
- Hunter Medical Research Institute, New Lambton Heights, NSW, Australia
- Department of Radiology, King Fahd University Hospital, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia
| | - Nikitas Koussis
- Hunter Medical Research Institute, New Lambton Heights, NSW, Australia
- School of Psychological Sciences, College of Engineering, Science and Environment, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, Australia
| | - Oun Al-Iedani
- Hunter Medical Research Institute, New Lambton Heights, NSW, Australia
- School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy, College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, Australia
| | - Ibrahim Khormi
- School of Health Sciences, College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, Australia
- Hunter Medical Research Institute, New Lambton Heights, NSW, Australia
- College of Applied Medical Sciences, University of Jeddah, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
| | - Rodney Lea
- Hunter Medical Research Institute, New Lambton Heights, NSW, Australia
| | - Saadallah Ramadan
- School of Health Sciences, College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, Australia
- Hunter Medical Research Institute, New Lambton Heights, NSW, Australia
| | - Jeannette Lechner-Scott
- Hunter Medical Research Institute, New Lambton Heights, NSW, Australia
- Department of Neurology, John Hunter Hospital, New Lambton Heights, NSW, Australia
- School of Medicine and Public Health, College of Health, Medicine and Wellbeing, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, Australia
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Yang WF, Sparby T, Wright M, Kim E, Sacchet MD. Volitional mental absorption in meditation: Toward a scientific understanding of advanced concentrative absorption meditation and the case of jhana. Heliyon 2024; 10:e31223. [PMID: 38803854 PMCID: PMC11129010 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e31223] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2023] [Revised: 04/04/2024] [Accepted: 05/13/2024] [Indexed: 05/29/2024] Open
Abstract
Meditation has been integral to human culture for millennia, deeply rooted in various spiritual and contemplative traditions. While the field of contemplative science has made significant steps toward understanding the effects of meditation on health and well-being, there has been little study of advanced meditative states, including those achieved through intense concentration and absorption. We refer to these types of states as advanced concentrative absorption meditation (ACAM), characterized by absorption with the meditation object leading to states of heightened attention, clarity, energy, effortlessness, and bliss. This review focuses on a type of ACAM known as jhana (ACAM-J) due to its well-documented history, systematic practice approach, recurring phenomenological themes, and growing popularity among contemplative scientists and more generally in media and society. ACAM-J encompasses eight layers of deep concentration, awareness, and internal experiences. Here, we describe the phenomenology of ACAM-J and present evidence from phenomenological and neuroscientific studies that highlight their potential applications in contemplative practices, psychological sciences, and therapeutics. We additionally propose theoretical ACAM-J frameworks grounded in current cognitive neuroscientific understanding of meditation and ancient contemplative traditions. We aim to stimulate further research on ACAM more broadly, encompassing advanced meditation including meditative development and meditative endpoints. Studying advanced meditation including ACAM, and specific practices such as ACAM-J, can potentially revolutionize our understanding of consciousness and applications for mental health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Winson F.Z. Yang
- Meditation Research Program, Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Terje Sparby
- Steiner University College, 0260, Oslo, Norway
- Department of Psychology and Psychotherapy, Witten/Herdecke University, 58448, Witten, Germany
- Integrated Curriculum for Anthroposophic Psychology, Witten/Herdecke University, 58448, Witten, Germany
| | - Malcolm Wright
- School of Communication, Journalism and Marketing, Massey University, Albany, New Zealand
| | - Eunmi Kim
- Center for Contemplative Science, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, Republic of Korea
| | - Matthew D. Sacchet
- Meditation Research Program, Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
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Jordán Z, Szabó JP, Sákovics A, Kelemen A, Halász L, Erőss L, Fabó D. Epileptiform discharges in the anterior thalamus of epilepsy patients. iScience 2024; 27:109582. [PMID: 38726366 PMCID: PMC11079473 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.109582] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2023] [Revised: 07/25/2023] [Accepted: 03/25/2024] [Indexed: 05/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Anterior thalamus (ANT) deep-brain stimulation (DBS) is an approved therapy for drug resistant epilepsy. We aimed to identify interictal epileptiform discharges (IED) in the ANT and to investigate their relationship with surface IEDs. Fifteen patients were monitored for two consecutive nights with externalized thalamic leads to analyze the intrathalamic epileptiform activities (TIED). Forty-six % of all contacts were located within the ANT. We found that all the responders had TIEDs within the ANT, while this held true only for 44% of the non-responders. The overall response rate (RR) at 1-year follow-up was 40%, while it was 44% in bilateral ANT hit patients and 45% in epileptic focus side hit. However, in case of TIEDs present in the focus side the RR reached as high as 71%. TIED activity may prove the pathophysiological connection to the seizure focus, and stimulation of this area might have a better suppressing effect on seizures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zsófia Jordán
- Epilepsy Unit, Department of Neurosurgery and Neurointervention, Faculty of Medicine, Semmelweis University, 1145 Budapest, Hungary
- Member of the ERN EpiCARE, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Johanna-Petra Szabó
- Epilepsy Unit, Department of Neurosurgery and Neurointervention, Faculty of Medicine, Semmelweis University, 1145 Budapest, Hungary
- Member of the ERN EpiCARE, Budapest, Hungary
- János Szentágothai Neuroscience Program, School of PhD Studies, Semmelweis University, 1085 Budapest, Hungary
- Lendület Laboratory of Systems Neuroscience, Institute of Experimental Medicine, 1083 Budapest, Hungary
| | - Anna Sákovics
- Epilepsy Unit, Department of Neurosurgery and Neurointervention, Faculty of Medicine, Semmelweis University, 1145 Budapest, Hungary
- Member of the ERN EpiCARE, Budapest, Hungary
- János Szentágothai Neuroscience Program, School of PhD Studies, Semmelweis University, 1085 Budapest, Hungary
| | - Anna Kelemen
- Epilepsy Unit, Department of Neurosurgery and Neurointervention, Faculty of Medicine, Semmelweis University, 1145 Budapest, Hungary
- Member of the ERN EpiCARE, Budapest, Hungary
- András Pető Faculty, Semmelweis University, 1125 Budapest, Hungary
| | - László Halász
- Functional Neurosurgery Unit, Department of Neurosurgery and Neurointervention, Faculty of Medicine, Semmelweis University, 1145 Budapest, Hungary
| | - Loránd Erőss
- Functional Neurosurgery Unit, Department of Neurosurgery and Neurointervention, Faculty of Medicine, Semmelweis University, 1145 Budapest, Hungary
| | - Dániel Fabó
- Epilepsy Unit, Department of Neurosurgery and Neurointervention, Faculty of Medicine, Semmelweis University, 1145 Budapest, Hungary
- Member of the ERN EpiCARE, Budapest, Hungary
- Department of Neurology, University of Szeged, 6720 Szeged, Hungary
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15
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Whyte CJ, Redinbaugh MJ, Shine JM, Saalmann YB. Thalamic contributions to the state and contents of consciousness. Neuron 2024; 112:1611-1625. [PMID: 38754373 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2024.04.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2024] [Revised: 04/11/2024] [Accepted: 04/17/2024] [Indexed: 05/18/2024]
Abstract
Consciousness can be conceptualized as varying along at least two dimensions: the global state of consciousness and the content of conscious experience. Here, we highlight the cellular and systems-level contributions of the thalamus to conscious state and then argue for thalamic contributions to conscious content, including the integrated, segregated, and continuous nature of our experience. We underscore vital, yet distinct roles for core- and matrix-type thalamic neurons. Through reciprocal interactions with deep-layer cortical neurons, matrix neurons support wakefulness and determine perceptual thresholds, whereas the cortical interactions of core neurons maintain content and enable perceptual constancy. We further propose that conscious integration, segregation, and continuity depend on the convergent nature of corticothalamic projections enabling dimensionality reduction, a thalamic reticular nucleus-mediated divisive normalization-like process, and sustained coherent activity in thalamocortical loops, respectively. Overall, we conclude that the thalamus plays a central topological role in brain structures controlling conscious experience.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher J Whyte
- Centre for Complex Systems, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Brain and Mind Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | | | - James M Shine
- Centre for Complex Systems, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Brain and Mind Centre, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Yuri B Saalmann
- Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, WI, USA; Wisconsin National Primate Research Center, Madison, WI, USA
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Zhang H, Kuang Q, Li R, Song Z, She S, Zheng Y. Association between homotopic connectivity and clinical symptoms in first-episode schizophrenia. Heliyon 2024; 10:e30347. [PMID: 38707391 PMCID: PMC11066690 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e30347] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2023] [Revised: 04/13/2024] [Accepted: 04/24/2024] [Indexed: 05/07/2024] Open
Abstract
Background Abnormal functional connectivity (FC) in the brain has been observed in schizophrenia patients. However, studies on FC between homotopic brain regions are limited, and the results of these studies are inconsistent. The aim of this study was to compare homotopic connectivity between first-episode schizophrenia (FES) patients and healthy subjects and assess its correlation with clinical symptoms. Methods Thirty-one FES patients and thirty-three healthy controls (HC) were included in the study. The voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity (VMHC) method of resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) was used to analyse the changes in homotopic connectivity between the two groups. The 5-factor PANSS model was used to quantitatively evaluate the severity of symptoms in FES patients. Partial correlation analysis was used to assess the correlation between homotopic connectivity changes and clinical symptoms. Results Compared to those in the HC group, VMHC values were decreased in the paracentral lobule (PL), thalamus, and superior temporal gyrus (STG) in the FES group (P < 0.05, FDR correction). No significant differences in white matter volume (WMV) within the subregion of the corpus callosum or in brain regions associated with reduced VMHC were observed between the two groups. Partial correlation analyses revealed that VMHC in the bilateral STG of FES patients was positively correlated with negative symptoms (rleft = 0.46, p < 0.05; rright = 0.47, p < 0.05), and VMHC in the right thalamus was negatively correlated with disorganized/concrete symptoms (rright = 0.45, p < 0.05). Conclusion Our study revealed that homotopic connectivity is altered in the resting-state brain of FES patients and correlates with the severity of negative symptoms; this change may be independent of structural changes in white matter. These findings may contribute to the development of the abnormal connectivity hypothesis in schizophrenia patients.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Ruikeng Li
- Department of Psychiatry, The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, 510370, China
| | - Zhen Song
- Department of Psychiatry, The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, 510370, China
| | - Shenglin She
- Department of Psychiatry, The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, 510370, China
| | - Yingjun Zheng
- Department of Psychiatry, The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, 510370, China
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Tononi G, Boly M, Cirelli C. Consciousness and sleep. Neuron 2024; 112:1568-1594. [PMID: 38697113 PMCID: PMC11105109 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2024.04.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/07/2024] [Revised: 04/04/2024] [Accepted: 04/10/2024] [Indexed: 05/04/2024]
Abstract
Sleep is a universal, essential biological process. It is also an invaluable window on consciousness. It tells us that consciousness can be lost but also that it can be regained, in all its richness, when we are disconnected from the environment and unable to reflect. By considering the neurophysiological differences between dreaming and dreamless sleep, we can learn about the substrate of consciousness and understand why it vanishes. We also learn that the ongoing state of the substrate of consciousness determines the way each experience feels regardless of how it is triggered-endogenously or exogenously. Dreaming consciousness is also a window on sleep and its functions. Dreams tell us that the sleeping brain is remarkably lively, recombining intrinsic activation patterns from a vast repertoire, freed from the requirements of ongoing behavior and cognitive control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Giulio Tononi
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53719, USA.
| | - Melanie Boly
- Department of Neurology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53719, USA
| | - Chiara Cirelli
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53719, USA
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Su CH, Ko LW, Jung TP, Onton J, Tzou SC, Juang JC, Hsu CY. Extracting Stress-Related EEG Patterns From Pre-Sleep EEG for Forecasting Slow-Wave Sleep Deficiency. IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehabil Eng 2024; 32:1817-1827. [PMID: 38683718 DOI: 10.1109/tnsre.2024.3394471] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/02/2024]
Abstract
Sleep is vital to our daily activity. Lack of proper sleep can impair functionality and overall health. While stress is known for its detrimental impact on sleep quality, the precise effect of pre-sleep stress on subsequent sleep structure remains unknown. This study introduced a novel approach to study the pre-sleep stress effect on sleep structure, specifically slow-wave sleep (SWS) deficiency. To achieve this, we selected forehead resting EEG immediately before and upon sleep onset to extract stress-related neurological markers through power spectra and entropy analysis. These markers include beta/delta correlation, alpha asymmetry, fuzzy entropy (FuzzEn) and spectral entropy (SpEn). Fifteen subjects were included in this study. Our results showed that subjects lacking SWS often exhibited signs of stress in EEG, such as an increased beta/delta correlation, higher alpha asymmetry, and increased FuzzEn in frontal EEG. Conversely, individuals with ample SWS displayed a weak beta/delta correlation and reduced FuzzEn. Finally, we employed several supervised learning models and found that the selected neurological markers can predict subsequent SWS deficiency. Our investigation demonstrated that the classifiers could effectively predict varying levels of slow-wave sleep (SWS) from pre-sleep EEG segments, achieving a mean balanced accuracy surpassing 0.75. The SMOTE-Tomek resampling method could improve the performance to 0.77. This study suggests that stress-related neurological markers derived from pre-sleep EEG can effectively predict SWS deficiency. Such information can be integrated with existing sleep-improving techniques to provide a personalized sleep forecasting and improvement solution.
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Bush A, Zou JF, Lipski WJ, Kokkinos V, Richardson RM. Aperiodic components of local field potentials reflect inherent differences between cortical and subcortical activity. Cereb Cortex 2024; 34:bhae186. [PMID: 38725290 PMCID: PMC11082477 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhae186] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2023] [Revised: 04/15/2024] [Accepted: 04/18/2024] [Indexed: 05/13/2024] Open
Abstract
Information flow in brain networks is reflected in local field potentials that have both periodic and aperiodic components. The 1/fχ aperiodic component of the power spectra tracks arousal and correlates with other physiological and pathophysiological states. Here we explored the aperiodic activity in the human thalamus and basal ganglia in relation to simultaneously recorded cortical activity. We elaborated on the parameterization of the aperiodic component implemented by specparam (formerly known as FOOOF) to avoid parameter unidentifiability and to obtain independent and more easily interpretable parameters. This allowed us to seamlessly fit spectra with and without an aperiodic knee, a parameter that captures a change in the slope of the aperiodic component. We found that the cortical aperiodic exponent χ, which reflects the decay of the aperiodic component with frequency, is correlated with Parkinson's disease symptom severity. Interestingly, no aperiodic knee was detected from the thalamus, the pallidum, or the subthalamic nucleus, which exhibited an aperiodic exponent significantly lower than in cortex. These differences were replicated in epilepsy patients undergoing intracranial monitoring that included thalamic recordings. The consistently lower aperiodic exponent and lack of an aperiodic knee from all subcortical recordings may reflect cytoarchitectonic and/or functional differences. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The aperiodic component of local field potentials can be modeled to produce useful and reproducible indices of neural activity. Here we refined a widely used phenomenological model for extracting aperiodic parameters (namely the exponent, offset and knee), with which we fit cortical, basal ganglia, and thalamic intracranial local field potentials, recorded from unique cohorts of movement disorders and epilepsy patients. We found that the aperiodic exponent in motor cortex is higher in Parkinson's disease patients with more severe motor symptoms, suggesting that aperiodic features may have potential as electrophysiological biomarkers for movement disorders symptoms. Remarkably, we found conspicuous differences in the aperiodic parameters of basal ganglia and thalamic signals compared to those from neocortex.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alan Bush
- Brain Modulation Lab, Department of Neurosurgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA
- Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurosurgery, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Jasmine F Zou
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02115, USA
| | - Witold J Lipski
- Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
| | - Vasileios Kokkinos
- Brain Modulation Lab, Department of Neurosurgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA
- Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurosurgery, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - R Mark Richardson
- Brain Modulation Lab, Department of Neurosurgery, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114, USA
- Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurosurgery, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02115, USA
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Gao S, Chen J, Liu J, Guan Y, Liu R, Yang J, Yang X. Decreased grey matter volume in dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and thalamus accompanied by compensatory increases in middle cingulate gyrus of premature ejaculation patients. Andrology 2024; 12:841-849. [PMID: 37902180 DOI: 10.1111/andr.13547] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2023] [Revised: 09/18/2023] [Accepted: 10/10/2023] [Indexed: 10/31/2023]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION The prefrontal-cingulate-thalamic areas are associated with ejaculation control. Functional abnormalities of these areas and decreased grey matter volume (GMV) in the subcortical areas have been confirmed in premature ejaculation (PE) patients. However, no study has explored the corresponding GMV changes in the prefrontal-cingulate-thalamic areas, which are considered as the important basis for functional abnormalities. This study aimed to investigated whether PE patients exhibited impaired GMV in the brain, especially the prefrontal-cingulate-thalamic areas, and whether these structural deficits were associated with declined ejaculatory control. METHODS T1-weighted structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data were acquired from 50 lifelong PE patients and 50 age-, and education-matched healthy controls (HCs). The PE diagnostic tool (PEDT) was applied to assess the subjective symptoms of PE. Based on the method of voxel-based morphometry (VBM), GMV were measured and compared between groups. In addition, the correlations between GMV of brain regions showed differences between groups and PEDT scores were evaluated in the patient group. RESULTS PE patients showed decreased GMV in the right dorsolateral superior frontal gyrus (clusters = 13, peak T-values = -4.30) and left thalamus (clusters = 47, T = -4.33), and increased GMV in the left middle cingulate gyrus (clusters = 12, T = 4.02) when compared with HCs. In the patient group, GMV of the left thalamus were negatively associated with PEDT scores (r = -0.35; P = 0.01). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis showed that GMV of the right dorsolateral superior frontal gyrus (AUC = 0.71, P < 0.01, sensitivity = 60%, specificity = 78%), left thalamus (AUC = 0.72, P < 0.01, sensitivity = 92%, specificity = 46%) and middle cingulate gyrus (AUC = 0.69, P < 0.01, sensitivity = 50%, specificity = 90%), and the combined model (AUC = 0.84, P < 0.01, sensitivity = 78%, specificity = 80%) all had the ability to distinguish PE patients from HCs. CONCLUSION Disturbances in GMV were revealed in the prefrontal-cingulate-thalamic areas of PE patients. The findings implied that decreased GMV in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and thalamus might be associated with the central pathological neural mechanism underlying the declined ejaculatory control while increased GMV in the middle cingulate gyrus might be the compensatory mechanism underlying PE.
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Affiliation(s)
- Songzhan Gao
- Department of Andrology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China
| | - Jianhuai Chen
- Department of Andrology, Jiangsu Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, China
| | - Jia Liu
- Department of clinical laboratory, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China
| | - Yichun Guan
- Department of Reproductive Medicine, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China
| | - Rusheng Liu
- Department of Andrology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China
| | - Jie Yang
- Department of Urology, Jiangsu Provincial People's Hospital, First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
- Department of Urology, People's Hospital of Xinjiang Kizilsu Kirgiz Autonomous Prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, China
| | - Xianfeng Yang
- Department of Andrology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China
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21
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Williams JC, Tubiolo PN, Zheng ZJ, Silver-Frankel EB, Pham DT, Haubold NK, Abeykoon SK, Abi-Dargham A, Horga G, Van Snellenberg JX. Functional Localization of the Human Auditory and Visual Thalamus Using a Thalamic Localizer Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Task. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.04.28.591516. [PMID: 38746171 PMCID: PMC11092475 DOI: 10.1101/2024.04.28.591516] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/16/2024]
Abstract
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of the auditory and visual sensory systems of the human brain is an active area of investigation in the study of human health and disease. The medial geniculate nucleus (MGN) and lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) are key thalamic nuclei involved in the processing and relay of auditory and visual information, respectively, and are the subject of blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) fMRI studies of neural activation and functional connectivity in human participants. However, localization of BOLD fMRI signal originating from neural activity in MGN and LGN remains a technical challenge, due in part to the poor definition of boundaries of these thalamic nuclei in standard T1-weighted and T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging sequences. Here, we report the development and evaluation of an auditory and visual sensory thalamic localizer (TL) fMRI task that produces participant-specific functionally-defined regions of interest (fROIs) of both MGN and LGN, using 3 Tesla multiband fMRI and a clustered-sparse temporal acquisition sequence, in less than 16 minutes of scan time. We demonstrate the use of MGN and LGN fROIs obtained from the TL fMRI task in standard resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) fMRI analyses in the same participants. In RSFC analyses, we validated the specificity of MGN and LGN fROIs for signals obtained from primary auditory and visual cortex, respectively, and benchmark their performance against alternative atlas- and segmentation-based localization methods. The TL fMRI task and analysis code (written in Presentation and MATLAB, respectively) have been made freely available to the wider research community.
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22
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Lakshminarasimhan KJ, Xie M, Cohen JD, Sauerbrei BA, Hantman AW, Litwin-Kumar A, Escola S. Specific connectivity optimizes learning in thalamocortical loops. Cell Rep 2024; 43:114059. [PMID: 38602873 PMCID: PMC11104520 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2024.114059] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2023] [Revised: 01/04/2024] [Accepted: 03/20/2024] [Indexed: 04/13/2024] Open
Abstract
Thalamocortical loops have a central role in cognition and motor control, but precisely how they contribute to these processes is unclear. Recent studies showing evidence of plasticity in thalamocortical synapses indicate a role for the thalamus in shaping cortical dynamics through learning. Since signals undergo a compression from the cortex to the thalamus, we hypothesized that the computational role of the thalamus depends critically on the structure of corticothalamic connectivity. To test this, we identified the optimal corticothalamic structure that promotes biologically plausible learning in thalamocortical synapses. We found that corticothalamic projections specialized to communicate an efference copy of the cortical output benefit motor control, while communicating the modes of highest variance is optimal for working memory tasks. We analyzed neural recordings from mice performing grasping and delayed discrimination tasks and found corticothalamic communication consistent with these predictions. These results suggest that the thalamus orchestrates cortical dynamics in a functionally precise manner through structured connectivity.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Marjorie Xie
- Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA
| | - Jeremy D Cohen
- Neuroscience Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27559, USA
| | - Britton A Sauerbrei
- Department of Neurosciences, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA
| | - Adam W Hantman
- Neuroscience Center, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC 27559, USA
| | - Ashok Litwin-Kumar
- Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027, USA.
| | - Sean Escola
- Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA.
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23
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Bulut T, Hagoort P. Contributions of the left and right thalami to language: A meta-analytic approach. Brain Struct Funct 2024:10.1007/s00429-024-02795-3. [PMID: 38625556 DOI: 10.1007/s00429-024-02795-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2023] [Accepted: 03/25/2024] [Indexed: 04/17/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Despite a pervasive cortico-centric view in cognitive neuroscience, subcortical structures including the thalamus have been shown to be increasingly involved in higher cognitive functions. Previous structural and functional imaging studies demonstrated cortico-thalamo-cortical loops which may support various cognitive functions including language. However, large-scale functional connectivity of the thalamus during language tasks has not been examined before. METHODS The present study employed meta-analytic connectivity modeling to identify language-related coactivation patterns of the left and right thalami. The left and right thalami were used as regions of interest to search the BrainMap functional database for neuroimaging experiments with healthy participants reporting language-related activations in each region of interest. Activation likelihood estimation analyses were then carried out on the foci extracted from the identified studies to estimate functional convergence for each thalamus. A functional decoding analysis based on the same database was conducted to characterize thalamic contributions to different language functions. RESULTS The results revealed bilateral frontotemporal and bilateral subcortical (basal ganglia) coactivation patterns for both the left and right thalami, and also right cerebellar coactivations for the left thalamus, during language processing. In light of previous empirical studies and theoretical frameworks, the present connectivity and functional decoding findings suggest that cortico-subcortical-cerebellar-cortical loops modulate and fine-tune information transfer within the bilateral frontotemporal cortices during language processing, especially during production and semantic operations, but also other language (e.g., syntax, phonology) and cognitive operations (e.g., attention, cognitive control). CONCLUSION The current findings show that the language-relevant network extends beyond the classical left perisylvian cortices and spans bilateral cortical, bilateral subcortical (bilateral thalamus, bilateral basal ganglia) and right cerebellar regions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Talat Bulut
- Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
- Department of Speech and Language Therapy, School of Health Sciences, Istanbul Medipol University, Istanbul, Turkey.
| | - Peter Hagoort
- Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
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24
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Thalhammer M, Schulz J, Scheulen F, Oubaggi MEM, Kirschner M, Kaiser S, Schmidt A, Borgwardt S, Avram M, Brandl F, Sorg C. Distinct Volume Alterations of Thalamic Nuclei Across the Schizophrenia Spectrum. Schizophr Bull 2024:sbae037. [PMID: 38577901 DOI: 10.1093/schbul/sbae037] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/06/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND HYPOTHESIS Abnormal thalamic nuclei volumes and their link to cognitive impairments have been observed in schizophrenia. However, whether and how this finding extends to the schizophrenia spectrum is unknown. We hypothesized a distinct pattern of aberrant thalamic nuclei volume across the spectrum and examined its potential associations with cognitive symptoms. STUDY DESIGN We performed a FreeSurfer-based volumetry of T1-weighted brain MRIs from 137 healthy controls, 66 at-risk mental state (ARMS) subjects, 89 first-episode psychosis (FEP) individuals, and 126 patients with schizophrenia to estimate thalamic nuclei volumes of six nuclei groups (anterior, lateral, ventral, intralaminar, medial, and pulvinar). We used linear regression models, controlling for sex, age, and estimated total intracranial volume, both to compare thalamic nuclei volumes across groups and to investigate their associations with positive, negative, and cognitive symptoms. STUDY RESULTS We observed significant volume alterations in medial and lateral thalamic nuclei. Medial nuclei displayed consistently reduced volumes across the spectrum compared to controls, while lower lateral nuclei volumes were only observed in schizophrenia. Whereas positive and negative symptoms were not associated with reduced nuclei volumes across all groups, higher cognitive scores were linked to lower volumes of medial nuclei in ARMS. In FEP, cognition was not linked to nuclei volumes. In schizophrenia, lower cognitive performance was associated with lower medial volumes. CONCLUSIONS Results demonstrate distinct thalamic nuclei volume reductions across the schizophrenia spectrum, with lower medial nuclei volumes linked to cognitive deficits in ARMS and schizophrenia. Data suggest a distinctive trajectory of thalamic nuclei abnormalities along the course of schizophrenia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Melissa Thalhammer
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
- TUM-NIC Neuroimaging Center, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Julia Schulz
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
- TUM-NIC Neuroimaging Center, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Felicitas Scheulen
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
- TUM-NIC Neuroimaging Center, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Mohamed El Mehdi Oubaggi
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
- TUM-NIC Neuroimaging Center, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Matthias Kirschner
- Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
- Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric Hospital, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Stefan Kaiser
- Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - André Schmidt
- Department of Psychiatry (UPK), University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Stefan Borgwardt
- Translational Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
| | - Mihai Avram
- Translational Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany
| | - Felix Brandl
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
- TUM-NIC Neuroimaging Center, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Christian Sorg
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
- TUM-NIC Neuroimaging Center, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
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25
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Miltner WHR, Franz M, Naumann E. Neuroscientific results of experimental studies on the control of acute pain with hypnosis and suggested analgesia. Front Psychol 2024; 15:1371636. [PMID: 38638524 PMCID: PMC11025616 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1371636] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2024] [Accepted: 03/18/2024] [Indexed: 04/20/2024] Open
Abstract
This narrative review summarizes a representative collection of electrophysiological and imaging studies on the neural processes and brain sources underlying hypnotic trance and the effects of hypnotic suggestions on the processing of experimentally induced painful events. It complements several reviews on the effect of hypnosis on brain processes and structures of chronic pain processing. Based on a summary of previous findings on the neuronal processing of experimentally applied pain stimuli and their effects on neuronal brain structures in healthy subjects, three neurophysiological methods are then presented that examine which of these neuronal processes and structures get demonstrably altered by hypnosis and can thus be interpreted as neuronal signatures of the effect of analgesic suggestions: (A) On a more global neuronal level, these are electrical processes of the brain that can be recorded from the cranial surface of the brain with magnetoencephalography (MEG) and electroencephalography (EEG). (B) On a second level, so-called evoked (EPs) or event-related potentials (ERPs) are discussed, which represent a subset of the brain electrical parameters of the EEG. (C) Thirdly, imaging procedures are summarized that focus on brain structures involved in the processing of pain states and belong to the main imaging procedures of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI/fMRI) and positron emission tomography (PET). Finally, these different approaches are summarized in a discussion, and some research and methodological suggestions are made as to how this research could be improved in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wolfgang H. R. Miltner
- Institute of Psychology, Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Jena, Thuringia, Germany
| | - Marcel Franz
- Institute of Psychology, Friedrich Schiller University of Jena, Jena, Thuringia, Germany
| | - Ewald Naumann
- Institute of Psychology, University of Trier, Trier, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
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26
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Campbell A, Tanaka JW. Fast saccades to faces during the feedforward sweep. J Vis 2024; 24:16. [PMID: 38630459 PMCID: PMC11037494 DOI: 10.1167/jov.24.4.16] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/10/2022] [Accepted: 09/19/2023] [Indexed: 04/19/2024] Open
Abstract
Saccadic choice tasks use eye movements as a response method, typically in a task where observers are asked to saccade as quickly as possible to an image of a prespecified target category. Using this approach, face-selective saccades have been observed within 100 ms poststimulus. When taking into account oculomotor processing, this suggests that faces can be detected in as little as 70 to 80 ms. It has therefore been suggested that face detection must occur during the initial feedforward sweep, since this latency leaves little time for feedback processing. In the current experiment, we tested this hypothesis using backward masking-a technique shown to primarily disrupt feedback processing while leaving feedforward activation relatively intact. Based on minimum saccadic reaction time, we found that face detection benefited from ultra-fast, accurate saccades within 110 to 160 ms and that these eye movements are obtainable even under extreme masking conditions that limit perceptual awareness. However, masking did significantly increase the median SRT for faces. In the manual responses, we found remarkable detection accuracy for faces and houses, even when participants indicated having no visual experience of the test images. These results provide evidence for the view that the saccadic bias to faces is initiated by coarse information used to categorize faces in the feedforward sweep but that, in most cases, additional processing is required to quickly reach the threshold for saccade initiation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alison Campbell
- Department of Psychology, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada
- https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6891-8609
| | - James W Tanaka
- Department of Psychology, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada
- https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6559-0388
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27
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Wolff M, Halassa MM. The mediodorsal thalamus in executive control. Neuron 2024; 112:893-908. [PMID: 38295791 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2024.01.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2023] [Revised: 11/15/2023] [Accepted: 01/03/2024] [Indexed: 03/23/2024]
Abstract
Executive control, the ability to organize thoughts and action plans in real time, is a defining feature of higher cognition. Classical theories have emphasized cortical contributions to this process, but recent studies have reinvigorated interest in the role of the thalamus. Although it is well established that local thalamic damage diminishes cognitive capacity, such observations have been difficult to inform functional models. Recent progress in experimental techniques is beginning to enrich our understanding of the anatomical, physiological, and computational substrates underlying thalamic engagement in executive control. In this review, we discuss this progress and particularly focus on the mediodorsal thalamus, which regulates the activity within and across frontal cortical areas. We end with a synthesis that highlights frontal thalamocortical interactions in cognitive computations and discusses its functional implications in normal and pathological conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mathieu Wolff
- University of Bordeaux, CNRS, INCIA, UMR 5287, 33000 Bordeaux, France.
| | - Michael M Halassa
- Department of Neuroscience, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
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28
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Ji Y, Cai M, Zhou Y, Ma J, Zhang Y, Zhang Z, Zhao J, Wang Y, Jiang Y, Zhai Y, Xu J, Lei M, Xu Q, Liu H, Liu F. Exploring functional dysconnectivity in schizophrenia: alterations in eigenvector centrality mapping and insights into related genes from transcriptional profiles. SCHIZOPHRENIA (HEIDELBERG, GERMANY) 2024; 10:37. [PMID: 38491019 PMCID: PMC10943118 DOI: 10.1038/s41537-024-00457-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2024] [Accepted: 03/05/2024] [Indexed: 03/18/2024]
Abstract
Schizophrenia is a mental health disorder characterized by functional dysconnectivity. Eigenvector centrality mapping (ECM) has been employed to investigate alterations in functional connectivity in schizophrenia, yet the results lack consistency, and the genetic mechanisms underlying these changes remain unclear. In this study, whole-brain voxel-wise ECM analyses were conducted on resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data. A cohort of 91 patients with schizophrenia and 91 matched healthy controls were included during the discovery stage. Additionally, in the replication stage, 153 individuals with schizophrenia and 182 healthy individuals participated. Subsequently, a comprehensive analysis was performed using an independent transcriptional database derived from six postmortem healthy adult brains to explore potential genetic factors influencing the observed functional dysconnectivity, and to investigate the roles of identified genes in neural processes and pathways. The results revealed significant and reliable alterations in the ECM across multiple brain regions in schizophrenia. Specifically, there was a significant decrease in ECM in the bilateral superior and middle temporal gyrus, and an increase in the bilateral thalamus in both the discovery and replication stages. Furthermore, transcriptional analysis revealed 420 genes whose expression patterns were related to changes in ECM, and these genes were enriched mainly in biological processes associated with synaptic signaling and transmission. Together, this study enhances our knowledge of the neural processes and pathways involved in schizophrenia, shedding light on the genetic factors that may be linked to functional dysconnectivity in this disorder.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuan Ji
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China
| | - Mengjing Cai
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China
| | - Yujing Zhou
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China
- Department of Radiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian, China
| | - Juanwei Ma
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China
| | - Yijing Zhang
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China
| | - Zhihui Zhang
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China
| | - Jiaxuan Zhao
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China
| | - Ying Wang
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China
| | - Yurong Jiang
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China
| | - Ying Zhai
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China
| | - Jinglei Xu
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China
| | - Minghuan Lei
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China
| | - Qiang Xu
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China.
| | - Huaigui Liu
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China.
| | - Feng Liu
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, China.
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Koster KP, Sherman SM. Convergence of inputs from the basal ganglia with layer 5 of motor cortex and cerebellum in mouse motor thalamus. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.03.14.584958. [PMID: 38559179 PMCID: PMC10979938 DOI: 10.1101/2024.03.14.584958] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/04/2024]
Abstract
A key to motor control is the motor thalamus, where several inputs converge. One excitatory input originates from layer 5 of primary motor cortex (M1L5), while another arises from the deep cerebellar nuclei (Cb). M1L5 terminals distribute throughout the motor thalamus and overlap with GABAergic inputs from the basal ganglia output nuclei, the internal segment of the globus pallidus (GPi) and substantia nigra pars reticulata (SNr). In contrast, it is thought that Cb and basal ganglia inputs are segregated. Therefore, we hypothesized that one potential function of the GABAergic inputs from basal ganglia is to selectively inhibit, or gate, excitatory signals from M1L5 in the motor thalamus. Here, we tested this possibility and determined the circuit organization of mouse (both sexes) motor thalamus using an optogenetic strategy in acute slices. First, we demonstrated the presence of a feedforward transthalamic pathway from M1L5 through motor thalamus. Importantly, we discovered that GABAergic inputs from the GPi and SNr converge onto single motor thalamic cells with excitatory synapses from M1L5 and, unexpectedly, Cb as well. We interpret these results to indicate that a role of the basal ganglia is to gate the thalamic transmission of M1L5 and Cb information to cortex.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kevin P. Koster
- Department of Neurobiology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637
| | - S. Murray Sherman
- Department of Neurobiology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637
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30
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Patton MH, Thomas KT, Bayazitov IT, Newman KD, Kurtz NB, Robinson CG, Ramirez CA, Trevisan AJ, Bikoff JB, Peters ST, Pruett-Miller SM, Jiang Y, Schild AB, Nityanandam A, Zakharenko SS. Synaptic plasticity in human thalamocortical assembloids. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.02.01.578421. [PMID: 38352415 PMCID: PMC10862901 DOI: 10.1101/2024.02.01.578421] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/25/2024]
Abstract
Synaptic plasticities, such as long-term potentiation (LTP) and depression (LTD), tune synaptic efficacy and are essential for learning and memory. Current studies of synaptic plasticity in humans are limited by a lack of adequate human models. Here, we modeled the thalamocortical system by fusing human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived thalamic and cortical organoids. Single-nucleus RNA-sequencing revealed that most cells in mature thalamic organoids were glutamatergic neurons. When fused to form thalamocortical assembloids, thalamic and cortical organoids formed reciprocal long-range axonal projections and reciprocal synapses detectable by light and electron microscopy, respectively. Using whole-cell patch-clamp electrophysiology and two-photon imaging, we characterized glutamatergic synaptic transmission. Thalamocortical and corticothalamic synapses displayed short-term plasticity analogous to that in animal models. LTP and LTD were reliably induced at both synapses; however, their mechanisms differed from those previously described in rodents. Thus, thalamocortical assembloids provide a model system for exploring synaptic plasticity in human circuits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mary H. Patton
- Department of Developmental Neurobiology, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital; Memphis, TN 38105, USA
| | - Kristen T. Thomas
- Department of Developmental Neurobiology, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital; Memphis, TN 38105, USA
| | - Ildar T. Bayazitov
- Department of Developmental Neurobiology, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital; Memphis, TN 38105, USA
| | - Kyle D. Newman
- Department of Developmental Neurobiology, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital; Memphis, TN 38105, USA
| | - Nathaniel B. Kurtz
- Cell and Tissue Imaging Center, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital; Memphis, TN 38105, USA
| | - Camenzind G. Robinson
- Cell and Tissue Imaging Center, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital; Memphis, TN 38105, USA
| | - Cody A. Ramirez
- Department of Developmental Neurobiology, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital; Memphis, TN 38105, USA
| | - Alexandra J. Trevisan
- Department of Developmental Neurobiology, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital; Memphis, TN 38105, USA
| | - Jay B. Bikoff
- Department of Developmental Neurobiology, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital; Memphis, TN 38105, USA
| | - Samuel T. Peters
- Center for Advanced Genome Engineering, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital; Memphis, TN 38105, USA
| | - Shondra M. Pruett-Miller
- Center for Advanced Genome Engineering, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital; Memphis, TN 38105, USA
- Department of Cell & Molecular Biology, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital; Memphis, TN 38105, USA
| | - Yanbo Jiang
- Department of Developmental Neurobiology, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital; Memphis, TN 38105, USA
| | - Andrew B. Schild
- Department of Developmental Neurobiology, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital; Memphis, TN 38105, USA
| | - Anjana Nityanandam
- Department of Developmental Neurobiology, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital; Memphis, TN 38105, USA
| | - Stanislav S. Zakharenko
- Department of Developmental Neurobiology, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital; Memphis, TN 38105, USA
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31
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Bao S, Wang Y, Escalante YR, Li Y, Lei Y. Modulation of Motor Cortical Inhibition and Facilitation by Touch Sensation from the Glabrous Skin of the Human Hand. eNeuro 2024; 11:ENEURO.0410-23.2024. [PMID: 38443196 PMCID: PMC10915462 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0410-23.2024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2023] [Revised: 02/05/2024] [Accepted: 02/06/2024] [Indexed: 03/07/2024] Open
Abstract
Touch sensation from the glabrous skin of the hand is essential for precisely controlling dexterous movements, yet the neural mechanisms by which tactile inputs influence motor circuits remain largely unexplored. By pairing air-puff tactile stimulation on the hand's glabrous skin with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over the primary motor cortex (M1), we examined the effects of tactile stimuli from single or multiple fingers on corticospinal excitability and M1's intracortical circuits. Our results showed that when we targeted the hand's first dorsal interosseous (FDI) muscle with TMS, homotopic (index finger) tactile stimulation, regardless of its point (fingertip or base), reduced corticospinal excitability. Conversely, heterotopic (ring finger) tactile stimulation had no such effect. Notably, stimulating all five fingers simultaneously led to a more pronounced decrease in corticospinal excitability than stimulating individual fingers. Furthermore, tactile stimulation significantly increased intracortical facilitation (ICF) and decreased long-interval intracortical inhibition (LICI) but did not affect short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI). Considering the significant role of the primary somatosensory cortex (S1) in tactile processing, we also examined the effects of downregulating S1 excitability via continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) on tactile-motor interactions. Following cTBS, the inhibitory influence of tactile inputs on corticospinal excitability was diminished. Our findings highlight the spatial specificity of tactile inputs in influencing corticospinal excitability. Moreover, we suggest that tactile inputs distinctly modulate M1's excitatory and inhibitory pathways, with S1 being crucial in facilitating tactile-motor integration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shancheng Bao
- Program of Motor Neuroscience, Department of Kinesiology & Sport Management, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843
| | - Yiyu Wang
- Program of Motor Neuroscience, Department of Kinesiology & Sport Management, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843
| | - Yori R Escalante
- Program of Motor Neuroscience, Department of Kinesiology & Sport Management, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843
| | - Yue Li
- Department of Neuroscience & Experimental Therapeutics, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843
| | - Yuming Lei
- Program of Motor Neuroscience, Department of Kinesiology & Sport Management, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843
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32
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Wang KL, Li JP, Shan YZ, Zhao GG, Ma JH, Ramirez-Zamora A, Zhang YQ. Letter of response to "concerns about efficacy of deep brain stimulation (DBS) in centromedian-parafascicular thalamic complex for rapid onset dystonia-parkinsonism (DYT12-ATP1A3)". Brain Stimul 2024; 17:493-495. [PMID: 38685262 DOI: 10.1016/j.brs.2024.02.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2024] [Accepted: 02/22/2024] [Indexed: 05/02/2024] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Kai-Liang Wang
- Department of Neurosurgery, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100053, China; International Neuroscience Institute (China-INI), Clinical Research Center for Epilepsy, Capital Medical University, China; China National Medical Center for Neurological Diseases, China.
| | - Ji-Ping Li
- Department of Functional Neurosurgery, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100053, China.
| | - Yong-Zhi Shan
- Department of Neurosurgery, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100053, China; International Neuroscience Institute (China-INI), Clinical Research Center for Epilepsy, Capital Medical University, China; China National Medical Center for Neurological Diseases, China.
| | - Guo-Guang Zhao
- Department of Neurosurgery, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100053, China; International Neuroscience Institute (China-INI), Clinical Research Center for Epilepsy, Capital Medical University, China; China National Medical Center for Neurological Diseases, China.
| | - Jing-Hong Ma
- Department of Neurology, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100053, China.
| | - Adolfo Ramirez-Zamora
- University of Florida, Department of Neurology, Fixel Center for Neurological Diseases, Program in Movement Disorders and Neurorestoration, Gainesville, FL, 32607, USA.
| | - Yu-Qing Zhang
- Department of Functional Neurosurgery, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, 100053, China.
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33
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Wang Y, Yang Z, Zheng X, Liang X, Chen J, He T, Zhu Y, Wu L, Huang M, Zhang N, Zhou F. Temporal and topological properties of dynamic networks reflect disability in patients with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders. Sci Rep 2024; 14:4199. [PMID: 38378887 PMCID: PMC10879085 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-54518-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2023] [Accepted: 02/13/2024] [Indexed: 02/22/2024] Open
Abstract
Approximately 36% of patients with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders (NMOSD) suffer from severe visual and motor disability (blindness or light perception or unable to walk) with abnormalities of whole-brain functional networks. However, it remains unclear how whole-brain functional networks and their dynamic properties are related to clinical disability in patients with NMOSD. Our study recruited 30 NMOSD patients (37.70 ± 11.99 years) and 45 healthy controls (HC, 41.84 ± 11.23 years). The independent component analysis, sliding-window approach and graph theory analysis were used to explore the static strength, time-varying and topological properties of large-scale functional networks and their associations with disability in NMOSD. Compared to HC, NMOSD patients showed significant alterations in dynamic networks rather than static networks. Specifically, NMOSD patients showed increased occurrence (fractional occupancy; P < 0.001) and more dwell times of the low-connectivity state (P < 0.001) with fewer transitions (P = 0.028) between states than HC, and higher fractional occupancy, increased dwell times of the low-connectivity state and lower transitions were related to more severe disability. Moreover, NMOSD patients exhibited altered small-worldness, decreased degree centrality and reduced clustering coefficients of hub nodes in dynamic networks, related to clinical disability. NMOSD patients exhibited higher occurrence and more dwell time in low-connectivity states, along with fewer transitions between states and decreased topological organizations, revealing the disrupted communication and coordination among brain networks over time. Our findings could provide new perspective to help us better understand the neuropathological mechanism of the clinical disability in NMOSD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yao Wang
- Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Jiangxi Medical College, Nanchang University, Nanchang, 330006, Jiangxi Province, China
- Clinical Research Center for Medical Imaging in Jiangxi Province, Nanchang, 330006, Jiangxi Province, China
| | - Ziwei Yang
- Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Jiangxi Medical College, Nanchang University, Nanchang, 330006, Jiangxi Province, China
- Clinical Research Center for Medical Imaging in Jiangxi Province, Nanchang, 330006, Jiangxi Province, China
| | - Xiumei Zheng
- Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Jiangxi Medical College, Nanchang University, Nanchang, 330006, Jiangxi Province, China
- Clinical Research Center for Medical Imaging in Jiangxi Province, Nanchang, 330006, Jiangxi Province, China
| | - Xiao Liang
- Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Jiangxi Medical College, Nanchang University, Nanchang, 330006, Jiangxi Province, China
- Clinical Research Center for Medical Imaging in Jiangxi Province, Nanchang, 330006, Jiangxi Province, China
| | - Jin Chen
- Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, 330006, Jiangxi Province, China
| | - Ting He
- Department of Radiology, Pingxiang People's Hospital, Pingxiang, 337055, Jiangxi Province, China
| | - Yanyan Zhu
- Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Jiangxi Medical College, Nanchang University, Nanchang, 330006, Jiangxi Province, China
- Clinical Research Center for Medical Imaging in Jiangxi Province, Nanchang, 330006, Jiangxi Province, China
| | - Lin Wu
- Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Jiangxi Medical College, Nanchang University, Nanchang, 330006, Jiangxi Province, China
- Clinical Research Center for Medical Imaging in Jiangxi Province, Nanchang, 330006, Jiangxi Province, China
| | - Muhua Huang
- Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Jiangxi Medical College, Nanchang University, Nanchang, 330006, Jiangxi Province, China
- Clinical Research Center for Medical Imaging in Jiangxi Province, Nanchang, 330006, Jiangxi Province, China
| | - Ningnannan Zhang
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin, 300052, China.
| | - Fuqing Zhou
- Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Jiangxi Medical College, Nanchang University, Nanchang, 330006, Jiangxi Province, China.
- Clinical Research Center for Medical Imaging in Jiangxi Province, Nanchang, 330006, Jiangxi Province, China.
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Bruin WB, Oltedal L, Bartsch H, Abbott C, Argyelan M, Barbour T, Camprodon J, Chowdhury S, Espinoza R, Mulders P, Narr K, Oudega M, Rhebergen D, Ten Doesschate F, Tendolkar I, van Eijndhoven P, van Exel E, van Verseveld M, Wade B, van Waarde J, Zhutovsky P, Dols A, van Wingen G. Development and validation of a multimodal neuroimaging biomarker for electroconvulsive therapy outcome in depression: a multicenter machine learning analysis. Psychol Med 2024; 54:495-506. [PMID: 37485692 DOI: 10.1017/s0033291723002040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/25/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is the most effective intervention for patients with treatment resistant depression. A clinical decision support tool could guide patient selection to improve the overall response rate and avoid ineffective treatments with adverse effects. Initial small-scale, monocenter studies indicate that both structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI) and functional MRI (fMRI) biomarkers may predict ECT outcome, but it is not known whether those results can generalize to data from other centers. The objective of this study was to develop and validate neuroimaging biomarkers for ECT outcome in a multicenter setting. METHODS Multimodal data (i.e. clinical, sMRI and resting-state fMRI) were collected from seven centers of the Global ECT-MRI Research Collaboration (GEMRIC). We used data from 189 depressed patients to evaluate which data modalities or combinations thereof could provide the best predictions for treatment remission (HAM-D score ⩽7) using a support vector machine classifier. RESULTS Remission classification using a combination of gray matter volume and functional connectivity led to good performing models with average 0.82-0.83 area under the curve (AUC) when trained and tested on samples coming from the three largest centers (N = 109), and remained acceptable when validated using leave-one-site-out cross-validation (0.70-0.73 AUC). CONCLUSIONS These results show that multimodal neuroimaging data can be used to predict remission with ECT for individual patients across different treatment centers, despite significant variability in clinical characteristics across centers. Future development of a clinical decision support tool applying these biomarkers may be feasible.
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Affiliation(s)
- Willem Benjamin Bruin
- Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Leif Oltedal
- Mohn Medical Imaging and Visualization Centre, Department of Radiology, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway
- Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway
| | - Hauke Bartsch
- Mohn Medical Imaging and Visualization Centre, Department of Radiology, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway
| | - Christopher Abbott
- Department of Psychiatry, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA
| | - Miklos Argyelan
- The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, Manhasset, NY, USA
- The Zucker Hillside Hospital, Glen Oaks, NY, USA
| | - Tracy Barbour
- Division of Neuropsychiatry and Neuromodulation, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School. Boston, MA, USA
| | - Joan Camprodon
- Division of Neuropsychiatry and Neuromodulation, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School. Boston, MA, USA
| | - Samadrita Chowdhury
- Division of Neuropsychiatry and Neuromodulation, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School. Boston, MA, USA
| | - Randall Espinoza
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, UCLA, Los Angeles, USA
| | - Peter Mulders
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Department of Psychiatry, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Katherine Narr
- Ahmanson-Lovelace Brain Mapping Center, Departments of Neurology, and Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, UCLA, Los Angeles, USA
| | - Mardien Oudega
- Department of Old Age Psychiatry, GGZinGeest, Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam UMC, location VUmc, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Didi Rhebergen
- Mental Health Institute GGZ Centraal, Amersfoort; Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam UMC, location VUmc, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Freek Ten Doesschate
- Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Rijnstate, Department of Psychiatry, Arnhem, The Netherlands
| | - Indira Tendolkar
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Department of Psychiatry, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Philip van Eijndhoven
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Department of Psychiatry, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Eric van Exel
- Department of Old Age Psychiatry, GGZinGeest, Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam UMC, location VUmc, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | | | - Benjamin Wade
- Ahmanson-Lovelace Brain Mapping Center, Department of Neurology, UCLA, Los Angeles, USA
| | | | - Paul Zhutovsky
- Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Annemiek Dols
- Department of Old Age Psychiatry, GGZinGeest, Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam UMC, location VUmc, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Guido van Wingen
- Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam Neuroscience, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Amsterdam Brain and Cognition, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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35
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Novello M, Bosman LWJ, De Zeeuw CI. A Systematic Review of Direct Outputs from the Cerebellum to the Brainstem and Diencephalon in Mammals. CEREBELLUM (LONDON, ENGLAND) 2024; 23:210-239. [PMID: 36575348 PMCID: PMC10864519 DOI: 10.1007/s12311-022-01499-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 11/22/2022] [Indexed: 05/13/2023]
Abstract
The cerebellum is involved in many motor, autonomic and cognitive functions, and new tasks that have a cerebellar contribution are discovered on a regular basis. Simultaneously, our insight into the functional compartmentalization of the cerebellum has markedly improved. Additionally, studies on cerebellar output pathways have seen a renaissance due to the development of viral tracing techniques. To create an overview of the current state of our understanding of cerebellar efferents, we undertook a systematic review of all studies on monosynaptic projections from the cerebellum to the brainstem and the diencephalon in mammals. This revealed that important projections from the cerebellum, to the motor nuclei, cerebral cortex, and basal ganglia, are predominantly di- or polysynaptic, rather than monosynaptic. Strikingly, most target areas receive cerebellar input from all three cerebellar nuclei, showing a convergence of cerebellar information at the output level. Overall, there appeared to be a large level of agreement between studies on different species as well as on the use of different types of neural tracers, making the emerging picture of the cerebellar output areas a solid one. Finally, we discuss how this cerebellar output network is affected by a range of diseases and syndromes, with also non-cerebellar diseases having impact on cerebellar output areas.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manuele Novello
- Department of Neuroscience, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, the Netherlands
| | | | - Chris I De Zeeuw
- Department of Neuroscience, Erasmus MC, Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
- Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW), Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
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36
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Pang X, Liang X, Chang W, Lv Z, Zhao J, Wu P, Li X, Wei W, Zheng J. The role of the thalamus in modular functional networks in temporal lobe epilepsy with cognitive impairment. CNS Neurosci Ther 2024; 30:e14345. [PMID: 37424152 PMCID: PMC10848054 DOI: 10.1111/cns.14345] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2021] [Revised: 06/04/2023] [Accepted: 06/27/2023] [Indexed: 07/11/2023] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Cognitive deficit is common in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Here, we aimed to investigate the modular architecture of functional networks associated with distinct cognitive states in TLE patients together with the role of the thalamus in modular networks. METHODS Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans were acquired from 53 TLE patients and 37 matched healthy controls. All patients received the Montreal Cognitive Assessment test and accordingly were divided into TLE patients with normal cognition (TLE-CN, n = 35) and TLE patients with cognitive impairment (TLE-CI, n = 18) groups. The modular properties of functional networks were calculated and compared including global modularity Q, modular segregation index, intramodular connections, and intermodular connections. Thalamic subdivisions corresponding to the modular networks were generated by applying a 'winner-take-all' strategy before analyzing the modular properties (participation coefficient and within-module degree z-score) of each thalamic subdivision to assess the contribution of the thalamus to modular functional networks. Relationships between network properties and cognitive performance were then further explored. RESULTS Both TLE-CN and TLE-CI patients showed lower global modularity, as well as lower modular segregation index values for the ventral attention network and the default mode network. However, different patterns of intramodular and intermodular connections existed for different cognitive states. In addition, both TLE-CN and TLE-CI patients exhibited anomalous modular properties of functional thalamic subdivisions, with TLE-CI patients presenting a broader range of abnormalities. Cognitive performance in TLE-CI patients was not related to the modular properties of functional network but rather to the modular properties of functional thalamic subdivisions. CONCLUSIONS The thalamus plays a prominent role in modular networks and potentially represents a key neural mechanism underlying cognitive impairment in TLE.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaomin Pang
- Department of NeurologyGuangxi Medical University First Affiliated HospitalNanningChina
| | - Xiulin Liang
- Department of NeurologyGuangxi Medical University First Affiliated HospitalNanningChina
| | - Weiwei Chang
- Department of NeurologyGuangxi Medical University First Affiliated HospitalNanningChina
| | - Zongxia Lv
- Department of NeurologyGuangxi Medical University First Affiliated HospitalNanningChina
| | - Jingyuan Zhao
- Department of NeurologyGuangxi Medical University First Affiliated HospitalNanningChina
| | - Peirong Wu
- Department of NeurologyGuangxi Medical University First Affiliated HospitalNanningChina
| | - Xinrong Li
- Department of NeurologyGuangxi Medical University First Affiliated HospitalNanningChina
| | - Wutong Wei
- Department of NeurologyGuangxi Medical University First Affiliated HospitalNanningChina
| | - Jinou Zheng
- Department of NeurologyGuangxi Medical University First Affiliated HospitalNanningChina
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37
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Wang K, Fang Y, Guo Q, Shen L, Chen Q. Superior Attentional Efficiency of Auditory Cue via the Ventral Auditory-thalamic Pathway. J Cogn Neurosci 2024; 36:303-326. [PMID: 38010315 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_02090] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2023]
Abstract
Auditory commands are often executed more efficiently than visual commands. However, empirical evidence on the underlying behavioral and neural mechanisms remains scarce. In two experiments, we manipulated the delivery modality of informative cues and the prediction violation effect and found consistently enhanced RT benefits for the matched auditory cues compared with the matched visual cues. At the neural level, when the bottom-up perceptual input matched the prior prediction induced by the auditory cue, the auditory-thalamic pathway was significantly activated. Moreover, the stronger the auditory-thalamic connectivity, the higher the behavioral benefits of the matched auditory cue. When the bottom-up input violated the prior prediction induced by the auditory cue, the ventral auditory pathway was specifically involved. Moreover, the stronger the ventral auditory-prefrontal connectivity, the larger the behavioral costs caused by the violation of the auditory cue. In addition, the dorsal frontoparietal network showed a supramodal function in reacting to the violation of informative cues irrespective of the delivery modality of the cue. Taken together, the results reveal novel behavioral and neural evidence that the superior efficiency of the auditory cue is twofold: The auditory-thalamic pathway is associated with improvements in task performance when the bottom-up input matches the auditory cue, whereas the ventral auditory-prefrontal pathway is involved when the auditory cue is violated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ke Wang
- South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Ying Fang
- South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Qiang Guo
- Guangdong Sanjiu Brain Hospital, Guangzhou, China
| | - Lu Shen
- South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Qi Chen
- South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China
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38
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Li Y, Wen H, Li W, Peng Y, Li H, Tai J, Ji T, Mei L, Liu Y. Diffusion kurtosis imaging tractography reveals disrupted white matter structural networks in children with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. Brain Imaging Behav 2024; 18:92-105. [PMID: 37906404 DOI: 10.1007/s11682-023-00809-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 10/09/2023] [Indexed: 11/02/2023]
Abstract
To assess the disruptions of brain white matter (WM) structural network in children with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) using diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI). We use DKI tractography to construct individual whole-brain, region-level WM networks in 40 OSA and 28 healthy children. Then, we apply graph theory approaches to analyze whether OSA children would show altered global and regional network topological properties and whether these alterations would significantly correlate with the clinical characteristics of OSA. We found that both OSA and healthy children showed an efficient small-world organization and highly similar hub distributions in WM networks. However, characterized by kurtosis fractional anisotropy (KFA) weighted networks, OSA children exhibited decreased global and local efficiency, increased shortest path length compared with healthy children. For regional topology, OSA children exhibited significant decreased nodal betweenness centrality (BC) in the bilateral medial orbital superior frontal gyrus (ORBsupmed), right orbital part superior frontal gyrus (ORBsup), insula, postcentral gyrus, left middle temporal gyrus (MTG), and increased nodal BC in the superior parietal gyrus, pallidum. Intriguingly, the altered nodal BC of multiple regions (right ORBsupmed, ORBsup and left MTG) within default mode network showed significant correlations with sleep parameters for OSA patients. Our results suggest that children with OSA showed decreased global integration and local specialization in WM networks, typically characterized by DKI tractography and KFA metric. This study may advance our current understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms of impaired cognition underlying OSA.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yanhua Li
- Department of Radiology, National Center for Children's Health, Beijing Children's Hospital, Capital Medical University, 56 Nanlishilu, Beijing, 100045, China
- School of Medicine, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300071, China
| | - Hongwei Wen
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality (Ministry of Education), Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, 400715, China
| | - Wenfeng Li
- Department of Radiology, Beijing Daxing District Hospital of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, Beijing, 100163, China
| | - Yun Peng
- Department of Radiology, National Center for Children's Health, Beijing Children's Hospital, Capital Medical University, 56 Nanlishilu, Beijing, 100045, China
| | - Hongbin Li
- Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Children's Hospital, Capital Medical University, National Center for Children's Health, Beijing, 100045, China
| | - Jun Tai
- Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Children's Hospital, Capital Institute of Pediatrics, Beijing, 100020, China
| | - Tingting Ji
- Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Children's Hospital, Capital Medical University, National Center for Children's Health, Beijing, 100045, China
| | - Lin Mei
- Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Beijing Children's Hospital, Capital Medical University, National Center for Children's Health, Beijing, 100045, China
| | - Yue Liu
- Department of Radiology, National Center for Children's Health, Beijing Children's Hospital, Capital Medical University, 56 Nanlishilu, Beijing, 100045, China.
- Children's Hospital Affiliated to Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450018, China.
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Cortes N, Ladret HJ, Abbas-Farishta R, Casanova C. The pulvinar as a hub of visual processing and cortical integration. Trends Neurosci 2024; 47:120-134. [PMID: 38143202 DOI: 10.1016/j.tins.2023.11.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2023] [Revised: 10/26/2023] [Accepted: 11/26/2023] [Indexed: 12/26/2023]
Abstract
The pulvinar nucleus of the thalamus is a crucial component of the visual system and plays significant roles in sensory processing and cognitive integration. The pulvinar's extensive connectivity with cortical regions allows for bidirectional communication, contributing to the integration of sensory information across the visual hierarchy. Recent findings underscore the pulvinar's involvement in attentional modulation, feature binding, and predictive coding. In this review, we highlight recent advances in clarifying the pulvinar's circuitry and function. We discuss the contributions of the pulvinar to signal modulation across the global cortical network and place these findings within theoretical frameworks of cortical processing, particularly the global neuronal workspace (GNW) theory and predictive coding.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nelson Cortes
- Visual Neuroscience Laboratory, School of Optometry, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Hugo J Ladret
- Visual Neuroscience Laboratory, School of Optometry, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada; Institut de Neurosciences de la Timone, UMR 7289, CNRS and Aix-Marseille Université, Marseille, 13005, France
| | - Reza Abbas-Farishta
- Visual Neuroscience Laboratory, School of Optometry, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Christian Casanova
- Visual Neuroscience Laboratory, School of Optometry, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada.
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40
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Rodriguez-Sabate C, Gonzalez A, Perez-Darias JC, Morales I, Sole-Sabater M, Rodriguez M. Causality methods to study the functional connectivity in brain networks: the basal ganglia - thalamus causal interactions. Brain Imaging Behav 2024; 18:1-18. [PMID: 37823962 PMCID: PMC10844145 DOI: 10.1007/s11682-023-00803-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 09/10/2023] [Indexed: 10/13/2023]
Abstract
This study uses methods recently developed to study the complex evolution of atmospheric phenomena which have some similarities with the dynamics of the human brain. In both cases, it is possible to record the activity of particular centers (geographic regions or brain nuclei) but not to make an experimental modification of their state. The study of "causality", which is necessary to understand the dynamics of these complex systems and to develop robust models that can predict their evolution, is hampered by the experimental restrictions imposed by the nature of both systems. The study was performed with data obtained in the thalamus and basal ganglia of awake humans executing different tasks. This work studies the linear, non-linear and more complex relationships of these thalamic centers with the cortex and main BG nuclei, using three complementary techniques: the partial correlation regression method, the Gaussian process regression/distance correlation and a model-free method based on nearest-neighbor that computes the conditional mutual information. These causality methods indicated that the basal ganglia present a different functional relationship with the anterior-ventral (motor), intralaminar and medio-dorsal thalamic centers, and that more than 60% of these thalamus-basal ganglia relationships present a non-linear dynamic (35 of the 57 relationships found). These functional interactions were observed for basal ganglia nuclei with direct structural connections with the thalamus (primary somatosensory and motor cortex, striatum, internal globus pallidum and substantia nigra pars reticulata), but also for basal ganglia without structural connections with the thalamus (external globus pallidum and subthalamic nucleus). The motor tasks induced rapid modifications of the thalamus-basal ganglia interactions. These findings provide new perspectives of the thalamus - BG interactions, many of which may be supported by indirect functional relationships and not by direct excitatory/inhibitory interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Clara Rodriguez-Sabate
- Laboratory of Neurobiology and Experimental Neurology, Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of La Laguna, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
- Center for Networked Biomedical Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases (CIBERNED), Madrid, Spain
| | - Albano Gonzalez
- Department of Physics, University of La Laguna, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
| | | | - Ingrid Morales
- Laboratory of Neurobiology and Experimental Neurology, Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of La Laguna, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
- Center for Networked Biomedical Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases (CIBERNED), Madrid, Spain
| | - Miguel Sole-Sabater
- Department of Neurology, La Candelaria University Hospital, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
| | - Manuel Rodriguez
- Laboratory of Neurobiology and Experimental Neurology, Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of La Laguna, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain.
- Center for Networked Biomedical Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases (CIBERNED), Madrid, Spain.
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Wang J, Zhang H, Fang Y, Dong Y, Chao X, Xiao L, Jiang S, Yin D, Wang P, Sun W, Liu X. Functional connectome hierarchy of thalamus impacts fatigue in acute stroke patients. Cereb Cortex 2024; 34:bhad534. [PMID: 38212287 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhad534] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2023] [Revised: 12/19/2023] [Accepted: 12/20/2023] [Indexed: 01/13/2024] Open
Abstract
This study aimed to explore the topographic features of thalamic subregions, functional connectomes and hierarchical organizations between thalamus and cortex in poststroke fatigue patients. We consecutively recruited 121 acute ischemic stroke patients (mean age: 59 years) and 46 healthy controls matched for age, sex, and educational level. The mean age was 59 years (range 19-80) and 38% of acute stroke patients were females. Resting-state functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging were conducted on all participants. The fatigue symptoms were measured using the Fatigue Severity Scale. The thalamic functional subdivisions corresponding to the canonical functional network were defined using the winner-take-all parcellation method. Thalamic functional gradients were derived using the diffusion embedding analysis. The results suggested abnormal functional connectivity of thalamic subregions primarily located in the temporal lobe, posterior cingulate gyrus, parietal lobe, and precuneus. The thalamus showed a gradual increase from the medial to the lateral in all groups, but the right thalamus shifted more laterally in poststroke fatigue patients than in non- poststroke fatigue patients. Poststroke fatigue patients also had higher gradient scores in the somatomotor network and the right medial prefrontal and premotor thalamic regions, but lower values in the right lateral prefrontal thalamus. The findings suggested that poststroke fatigue patients had altered functional connectivity and thalamocortical hierarchical organizations, providing new insights into the neural mechanisms of the thalamus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jinjing Wang
- Department of Neurology, Nanjing Jinling Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of Medical School, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
| | - Hanhong Zhang
- Department of Neurology, Centre for Leading Medicine and Advanced Technologies of IHM, the First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230001, China
| | - Yirong Fang
- Department of Neurology, Centre for Leading Medicine and Advanced Technologies of IHM, the First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230001, China
| | - Yiran Dong
- Department of Neurology, Centre for Leading Medicine and Advanced Technologies of IHM, the First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230001, China
| | - Xian Chao
- Department of Neurology, Centre for Leading Medicine and Advanced Technologies of IHM, the First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230001, China
| | - Lulu Xiao
- Department of Neurology, Nanjing Jinling Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of Medical School, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
| | - Shiyi Jiang
- Department of Neurology, Centre for Leading Medicine and Advanced Technologies of IHM, the First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230001, China
| | - Dawei Yin
- Department of Radiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230036, China
| | - Peng Wang
- Department of Radiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230036, China
| | - Wen Sun
- Department of Neurology, Centre for Leading Medicine and Advanced Technologies of IHM, the First Affiliated Hospital of USTC, Division of Life Sciences and Medicine, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230001, China
| | - Xinfeng Liu
- Department of Neurology, Nanjing Jinling Hospital, Affiliated Hospital of Medical School, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
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Rodenkirch C, Wang Q. Optimization of Temporal Coding of Tactile Information in Rat Thalamus by Locus Coeruleus Activation. BIOLOGY 2024; 13:79. [PMID: 38392298 PMCID: PMC10886390 DOI: 10.3390/biology13020079] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2023] [Revised: 01/23/2024] [Accepted: 01/24/2024] [Indexed: 02/24/2024]
Abstract
The brainstem noradrenergic nucleus, the locus coeruleus (LC), exerts heavy influences on sensory processing, perception, and cognition through its diffuse projections throughout the brain. Previous studies have demonstrated that LC activation modulates the response and feature selectivity of thalamic relay neurons. However, the extent to which LC modulates the temporal coding of sensory information in the thalamus remains mostly unknown. Here, we found that LC stimulation significantly altered the temporal structure of the responses of the thalamic relay neurons to repeated whisker stimulation. A substantial portion of events (i.e., time points where the stimulus reliably evoked spikes as evidenced by dramatic elevations in the firing rate of the spike density function) were removed during LC stimulation, but many new events emerged. Interestingly, spikes within the emerged events have a higher feature selectivity, and therefore transmit more information about a tactile stimulus, than spikes within the removed events. This suggests that LC stimulation optimized the temporal coding of tactile information to improve information transmission. We further reconstructed the original whisker stimulus from a population of thalamic relay neurons' responses and corresponding feature selectivity. As expected, we found that reconstruction from thalamic responses was more accurate using spike trains of thalamic neurons recorded during LC stimulation than without LC stimulation, functionally confirming LC optimization of the thalamic temporal code. Together, our results demonstrated that activation of the LC-NE system optimizes temporal coding of sensory stimulus in the thalamus, presumably allowing for more accurate decoding of the stimulus in the downstream brain structures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Charles Rodenkirch
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Columbia University, ET 351, 500 W. 120th Street, New York, NY 10027, USA
| | - Qi Wang
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Columbia University, ET 351, 500 W. 120th Street, New York, NY 10027, USA
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Szczupak D, Schaeffer DJ, Tian X, Choi SH, Fang-Cheng, Iack PM, Campos VP, Mayo JP, Patsch J, Mitter C, Haboosheh A, Kwon HS, Vieira MAC, Reich DS, Jacobson S, Kasprian G, Tovar-Moll F, Lent R, Silva AC. Direct interhemispheric cortical communication via thalamic commissures: a new white matter pathway in the primate brain. Cereb Cortex 2024; 34:bhad394. [PMID: 37950874 PMCID: PMC10793074 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhad394] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2023] [Revised: 10/02/2023] [Accepted: 10/03/2023] [Indexed: 11/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Cortical neurons of eutherian mammals project to the contralateral hemisphere, crossing the midline primarily via the corpus callosum and the anterior, posterior, and hippocampal commissures. We recently reported and named the thalamic commissures (TCs) as an additional interhemispheric axonal fiber pathway connecting the cortex to the contralateral thalamus in the rodent brain. Here, we demonstrate that TCs also exist in primates and characterize the connectivity of these pathways with high-resolution diffusion-weighted MRI, viral axonal tracing, and fMRI. We present evidence of TCs in both New World (Callithrix jacchus and Cebus apella) and Old World primates (Macaca mulatta). Further, like rodents, we show that the TCs in primates develop during the embryonic period, forming anatomical and functionally active connections of the cortex with the contralateral thalamus. We also searched for TCs in the human brain, showing their presence in humans with brain malformations, although we could not identify TCs in healthy subjects. These results pose the TCs as a vital fiber pathway in the primate brain, allowing for more robust interhemispheric connectivity and synchrony and serving as an alternative commissural route in developmental brain malformations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Diego Szczupak
- University of Pittsburgh Brain Institute, Department of Neurobiology, University of Pittsburgh, 3501 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA
| | - David J Schaeffer
- University of Pittsburgh Brain Institute, Department of Neurobiology, University of Pittsburgh, 3501 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA
| | - Xiaoguang Tian
- University of Pittsburgh Brain Institute, Department of Neurobiology, University of Pittsburgh, 3501 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA
| | - Sang-Ho Choi
- University of Pittsburgh Brain Institute, Department of Neurobiology, University of Pittsburgh, 3501 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA
| | - Fang-Cheng
- Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Pittsburgh, 200 Lothrop Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA
| | - Pamela Meneses Iack
- Biomedical Sciences Institute, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, 373 Carlos Chagas Filho Avenue, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 21941-853, Brazil
| | - Vinicius P Campos
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, 400 Trabalhador São-Carlense Avenue, University of São Paulo, São Carlos, SP 13565-905, Brazil
| | - J Patrick Mayo
- Department of Ophthalmology, University of Pittsburgh, 1622 Locust Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA
| | - Janina Patsch
- Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-Guided Therapy of the Medical University of Vienna, 18-20 Währinger Gürtel, 1090, Vienna, Austria
| | - Christian Mitter
- Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-Guided Therapy of the Medical University of Vienna, 18-20 Währinger Gürtel, 1090, Vienna, Austria
| | - Amit Haboosheh
- Department of Radiology Hadassah Ein Karem Hospital, Kalman Ya'akov Man St, Jerusalem 9112001, Israel
| | - Ha Seung Kwon
- University of Pittsburgh Brain Institute, Department of Neurobiology, University of Pittsburgh, 3501 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA
| | - Marcelo A C Vieira
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, 400 Trabalhador São-Carlense Avenue, University of São Paulo, São Carlos, SP 13565-905, Brazil
| | - Daniel S Reich
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, 10 Center Drive, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA
| | - Steve Jacobson
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, 10 Center Drive, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA
| | - Gregor Kasprian
- Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-Guided Therapy of the Medical University of Vienna, 18-20 Währinger Gürtel, 1090, Vienna, Austria
| | - Fernanda Tovar-Moll
- D’Or Institute of Research and Education, 30 Rua Diniz Cordeiro Street, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 22281-100, Brazil
| | - Roberto Lent
- Biomedical Sciences Institute, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, 373 Carlos Chagas Filho Avenue, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 21941-853, Brazil
- D’Or Institute of Research and Education, 30 Rua Diniz Cordeiro Street, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro 22281-100, Brazil
| | - Afonso C Silva
- University of Pittsburgh Brain Institute, Department of Neurobiology, University of Pittsburgh, 3501 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA
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Yang WFZ, Chowdhury A, Bianciardi M, van Lutterveld R, Sparby T, Sacchet MD. Intensive whole-brain 7T MRI case study of volitional control of brain activity in deep absorptive meditation states. Cereb Cortex 2024; 34:bhad408. [PMID: 37943791 PMCID: PMC10793575 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhad408] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2023] [Revised: 10/09/2023] [Accepted: 10/10/2023] [Indexed: 11/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Jhanas are profound states of mind achieved through advanced meditation, offering valuable insights into the nature of consciousness and tools to enhance well-being. Yet, its neurophenomenology remains limited due to methodological difficulties and the rarity of advanced meditation practitioners. We conducted a highly exploratory study to investigate the neurophenomenology of jhanas in an intensively sampled adept meditator case study (4 hr 7T fMRI collected in 27 sessions) who performed jhana meditation and rated specific aspects of experience immediately thereafter. Linear mixed models and correlations were used to examine relations among brain activity and jhana phenomenology. We identified distinctive patterns of brain activity in specific cortical, subcortical, brainstem, and cerebellar regions associated with jhana. Furthermore, we observed correlations between brain activity and phenomenological qualities of attention, jhanic qualities, and narrative processing, highlighting the distinct nature of jhanas compared to non-meditative states. Our study presents the most rigorous evidence yet that jhana practice deconstructs consciousness, offering unique insights into consciousness and significant implications for mental health and well-being.
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Affiliation(s)
- Winson Fu Zun Yang
- Meditation Research Program, Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02129, USA
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02129, USA
| | - Avijit Chowdhury
- Meditation Research Program, Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02129, USA
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02129, USA
| | - Marta Bianciardi
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02129, USA
- Brainstem Imaging Laboratory, Department of Radiology, Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02129, USA
- Division of Sleep Medicine, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Remko van Lutterveld
- Department of Psychiatry, UMC Utrecht Brain Center, University Medical Center Utrecht, CX Utrecht 3584, the Netherlands
- Brain Research & Innovation Centre, Ministry of Defence, AA Utrecht 3509, the Netherlands
| | - Terje Sparby
- Steiner University College, Oslo 0260, Norway
- Department of Psychology and Psychotherapy, Witten/Herdecke University, Witten 58448, Germany
- Integrated Curriculum for Anthroposophic Psychology, Witten/Herdecke University, 58448 Witten, Germany
| | - Matthew D Sacchet
- Meditation Research Program, Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02129, USA
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02129, USA
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Gonzalo-Martín E, Alonso-Martínez C, Sepúlveda LP, Clasca F. Micropopulation mapping of the mouse parafascicular nucleus connections reveals diverse input-output motifs. Front Neuroanat 2024; 17:1305500. [PMID: 38260117 PMCID: PMC10800635 DOI: 10.3389/fnana.2023.1305500] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2023] [Accepted: 11/10/2023] [Indexed: 01/24/2024] Open
Abstract
Introduction In primates, including humans, the centromedian/parafascicular (CM-Pf) complex is a key thalamic node of the basal ganglia system. Deep brain stimulation in CM-Pf has been applied for the treatment of motor disorders such as Parkinson's disease or Tourette syndrome. Rodents have become widely used models for the study of the cellular and genetic mechanisms of these and other motor disorders. However, the equivalence between the primate CM-Pf and the nucleus regarded as analogous in rodents (Parafascicular, Pf) remains unclear. Methods Here, we analyzed the neurochemical architecture and carried out a brain-wide mapping of the input-output motifs in the mouse Pf at micropopulation level using anterograde and retrograde labeling methods. Specifically, we mapped and quantified the sources of cortical and subcortical input to different Pf subregions, and mapped and compared the distribution and terminal structure of their axons. Results We found that projections to Pf arise predominantly (>75%) from the cerebral cortex, with an unusually strong (>45%) Layer 5b component, which is, in part, contralateral. The intermediate layers of the superior colliculus are the main subcortical input source to Pf. On its output side, Pf neuron axons predominantly innervate the striatum. In a sparser fashion, they innervate other basal ganglia nuclei, including the subthalamic nucleus (STN), and the cerebral cortex. Differences are evident between the lateral and medial portions of Pf, both in chemoarchitecture and in connectivity. Lateral Pf axons innervate territories of the striatum, STN and cortex involved in the sensorimotor control of different parts of the contralateral hemibody. In contrast, the mediodorsal portion of Pf innervates oculomotor-limbic territories in the above three structures. Discussion Our data thus indicate that the mouse Pf consists of several neurochemically and connectively distinct domains whose global organization bears a marked similarity to that described in the primate CM-Pf complex.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Francisco Clasca
- Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience, Autónoma de Madrid University, Madrid, Spain
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Toker D, Müller E, Miyamoto H, Riga MS, Lladó-Pelfort L, Yamakawa K, Artigas F, Shine JM, Hudson AE, Pouratian N, Monti MM. Criticality supports cross-frequency cortical-thalamic information transfer during conscious states. eLife 2024; 13:e86547. [PMID: 38180472 PMCID: PMC10805384 DOI: 10.7554/elife.86547] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2023] [Accepted: 11/27/2023] [Indexed: 01/06/2024] Open
Abstract
Consciousness is thought to be regulated by bidirectional information transfer between the cortex and thalamus, but the nature of this bidirectional communication - and its possible disruption in unconsciousness - remains poorly understood. Here, we present two main findings elucidating mechanisms of corticothalamic information transfer during conscious states. First, we identify a highly preserved spectral channel of cortical-thalamic communication that is present during conscious states, but which is diminished during the loss of consciousness and enhanced during psychedelic states. Specifically, we show that in humans, mice, and rats, information sent from either the cortex or thalamus via δ/θ/α waves (∼1-13 Hz) is consistently encoded by the other brain region by high γ waves (52-104 Hz); moreover, unconsciousness induced by propofol anesthesia or generalized spike-and-wave seizures diminishes this cross-frequency communication, whereas the psychedelic 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT) enhances this low-to-high frequency interregional communication. Second, we leverage numerical simulations and neural electrophysiology recordings from the thalamus and cortex of human patients, rats, and mice to show that these changes in cross-frequency cortical-thalamic information transfer may be mediated by excursions of low-frequency thalamocortical electrodynamics toward/away from edge-of-chaos criticality, or the phase transition from stability to chaos. Overall, our findings link thalamic-cortical communication to consciousness, and further offer a novel, mathematically well-defined framework to explain the disruption to thalamic-cortical information transfer during unconscious states.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Toker
- Department of Neurology, University of California, Los AngelesLos AngelesUnited States
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los AngelesLos AngelesUnited States
| | - Eli Müller
- Brain and Mind Centre, University of SydneySydneyAustralia
| | - Hiroyuki Miyamoto
- Laboratory for Neurogenetics, RIKEN Center for Brain ScienceSaitamaJapan
- PRESTO, Japan Science and Technology AgencySaitamaJapan
- International Research Center for Neurointelligence, University of TokyoNagoyaJapan
| | - Maurizio S Riga
- Andalusian Center for Molecular Biology and Regenerative MedicineSevilleSpain
| | - Laia Lladó-Pelfort
- Departament de Ciències Bàsiques, Universitat de Vic-Universitat Central de CatalunyaBarcelonaSpain
| | - Kazuhiro Yamakawa
- Laboratory for Neurogenetics, RIKEN Center for Brain ScienceSaitamaJapan
- Department of Neurodevelopmental Disorder Genetics, Institute of Brain Science, Nagoya City University Graduate School of Medical ScienceNagoyaJapan
| | - Francesc Artigas
- Departament de Neurociències i Terapèutica Experimental, CSIC-Institut d’Investigacions Biomèdiques de BarcelonaBarcelonaSpain
- Institut d’Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS)BarcelonaSpain
- Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Salud Mental (CIBERSAM), Instituto de Salud Carlos IIIMadridSpain
| | - James M Shine
- Brain and Mind Centre, University of SydneySydneyAustralia
| | - Andrew E Hudson
- Department of Anesthesiology, Veterans Affairs Greater Los Angeles Healthcare SystemLos AngelesUnited States
- Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, University of California, Los AngelesLos AngelesUnited States
| | - Nader Pouratian
- Department of Neurological Surgery, UT Southwestern Medical CenterDallasUnited States
| | - Martin M Monti
- Department of Psychology, University of California, Los AngelesLos AngelesUnited States
- Department of Neurosurgery, University of California, Los AngelesLos AngelesUnited States
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Timonidis N, Rubio-Teves M, Alonso-Martínez C, Bakker R, García-Amado M, Tiesinga P, Clascá F. Analyzing Thalamocortical Tract-Tracing Experiments in a Common Reference Space. Neuroinformatics 2024; 22:23-43. [PMID: 37864741 PMCID: PMC10917831 DOI: 10.1007/s12021-023-09644-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 10/09/2023] [Indexed: 10/23/2023]
Abstract
Current mesoscale connectivity atlases provide limited information about the organization of thalamocortical projections in the mouse brain. Labeling the projections of spatially restricted neuron populations in thalamus can provide a functionally relevant level of connectomic analysis, but these need to be integrated within the same common reference space. Here, we present a pipeline for the segmentation, registration, integration and analysis of multiple tract-tracing experiments. The key difference with other workflows is that the data is transformed to fit the reference template. As a test-case, we investigated the axonal projections and intranuclear arrangement of seven neuronal populations of the ventral posteromedial nucleus of the thalamus (VPM), which we labeled with an anterograde tracer. Their soma positions corresponded, from dorsal to ventral, to cortical representations of the whiskers, nose and mouth. They strongly targeted layer 4, with the majority exclusively targeting one cortical area and the ones in ventrolateral VPM branching to multiple somatosensory areas. We found that our experiments were more topographically precise than similar experiments from the Allen Institute and projections to the primary somatosensory area were in agreement with single-neuron morphological reconstructions from publicly available databases. This pilot study sets the basis for a shared virtual connectivity atlas that could be enriched with additional data for studying the topographical organization of different thalamic nuclei. The pipeline is accessible with only minimal programming skills via a Jupyter Notebook, and offers multiple visualization tools such as cortical flatmaps, subcortical plots and 3D renderings and can be used with custom anatomical delineations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nestor Timonidis
- Neuroinformatics Department, Donders Centre for Neuroscience, Radboud University Nijmegen, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
| | - Mario Rubio-Teves
- Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience, School of Medicine, Autónoma de Madrid University, C. Arzobispo Morcillo 4, 28029, Madrid, Spain
| | - Carmen Alonso-Martínez
- Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience, School of Medicine, Autónoma de Madrid University, C. Arzobispo Morcillo 4, 28029, Madrid, Spain
| | - Rembrandt Bakker
- Neuroinformatics Department, Donders Centre for Neuroscience, Radboud University Nijmegen, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
- Inst. of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-6) and Inst. for Advanced Simulation (IAS-6) and JARA BRAIN Inst. I, Jülich Research Centre, Wilhelm-Johnen-Strasse, 52425, Jülich, Germany
| | - María García-Amado
- Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience, School of Medicine, Autónoma de Madrid University, C. Arzobispo Morcillo 4, 28029, Madrid, Spain
| | - Paul Tiesinga
- Neuroinformatics Department, Donders Centre for Neuroscience, Radboud University Nijmegen, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Francisco Clascá
- Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience, School of Medicine, Autónoma de Madrid University, C. Arzobispo Morcillo 4, 28029, Madrid, Spain
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Yee Y, Ellegood J, French L, Lerch JP. Organization of thalamocortical structural covariance and a corresponding 3D atlas of the mouse thalamus. Neuroimage 2024; 285:120453. [PMID: 37979895 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.120453] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/14/2022] [Revised: 10/29/2023] [Accepted: 11/08/2023] [Indexed: 11/20/2023] Open
Abstract
For information from sensory organs to be processed by the brain, it is usually passed to appropriate areas of the cerebral cortex. Almost all of this information passes through the thalamus, a relay structure that reciprocally connects to the vast majority of the cortex. The thalamus facilitates this information transfer through a set of thalamocortical connections that vary in cellular structure, molecular profiles, innervation patterns, and firing rates. Additionally, corticothalamic connections allow for intracortical information transfer through the thalamus. These efferent and afferent connections between the thalamus and cortex have been the focus of many studies, and the importance of cortical connectivity in defining thalamus anatomy is demonstrated by multiple studies that parcellate the thalamus based on cortical connectivity profiles. Here, we examine correlated morphological variation between the thalamus and cortex, or thalamocortical structural covariance. For each voxel in the thalamus as a seed, we construct a cortical structural covariance map that represents correlated cortical volume variation, and examine whether high structural covariance is observed in cortical areas that are functionally relevant to the seed. Then, using these cortical structural covariance maps as features, we subdivide the thalamus into six non-overlapping regions (clusters of voxels), and assess whether cortical structural covariance is associated with cortical connectivity that specifically originates from these regions. We show that cortical structural covariance is high in areas of the cortex that are functionally related to the seed voxel, cortical structural covariance varies along cortical depth, and sharp transitions in cortical structural covariance profiles are observed when varying seed locations in the thalamus. Subdividing the thalamus based on structural covariance, we additionally demonstrate that the six thalamic clusters of voxels stratify cortical structural covariance along the dorsal-ventral, medial-lateral, and anterior-posterior axes. These cluster-associated structural covariance patterns are prominently detected in cortical regions innervated by fibers projecting out of their related thalamic subdivisions. Together, these results advance our understanding of how the thalamus and the cortex couple in their volumes. Our results indicate that these volume correlations reflect functional organization and structural connectivity, and further provides a novel segmentation of the mouse thalamus that can be used to examine thalamic structural variation and thalamocortical structural covariation in disease models.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yohan Yee
- Mouse Imaging Centre, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada; Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
| | - Jacob Ellegood
- Mouse Imaging Centre, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada
| | - Leon French
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
| | - Jason P Lerch
- Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada; Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
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Chen H, Mao Q, Zhang Y, Shi M, Geng W, Ma Y, Chen Y, Yin X. Disrupted Effective Connectivity within the Fronto-Thalamic Circuit in Pontine Infarction: A Spectral Dynamic Causal Modeling Study. Brain Sci 2024; 14:45. [PMID: 38248260 PMCID: PMC10813776 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci14010045] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2023] [Revised: 12/13/2023] [Accepted: 12/19/2023] [Indexed: 01/23/2024] Open
Abstract
This study aims to investigate alterations in effective connectivity (EC) within the fronto-thalamic circuit and their associations with motor and cognitive declines in pontine infarction (PI). A total of 33 right PI patients (RPIs), 38 left PI patients (LPIs), and 67 healthy controls (HCs) were recruited. The spectral dynamic causal modeling (spDCM) approach was used for EC analysis within the fronto-thalamic circuit, including the thalamus, caudate, supplementary motor area (SMA), medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). The EC differences between different sides of the patients and HCs were assessed, and their correlations with motor and cognitive dysfunctions were analyzed. The LPIs showed increased EC from the mPFC to the R-SMA and decreased EC from the L-thalamus to the ACC, the L-SMA to the R-SMA, the R-caudate to the R-thalamus, and the R-thalamus to the ACC. For RPIs, the EC of the R-caudate to the mPFC, the L-thalamus and L-caudate to the L-SMA, and the L-caudate to the ACC increased obviously, while a lower EC strength was shown from the L-thalamus to the mPFC, the LSMA to the R-caudate, and the R-SMA to the L-thalamus. The EC from the R-caudate to the mPFC was negatively correlated with the MoCA score for RPIs, and the EC from the R-caudate to the R-thalamus was negatively correlated with the FMA score for LPIs. The results demonstrated EC within the fronto-thalamic circuit in PI-related functional impairments and reveal its potential as a novel imaging marker.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Xindao Yin
- Department of Radiology, Nanjing First Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210006, China; (H.C.); (Q.M.); (Y.Z.); (M.S.); (W.G.); (Y.M.); (Y.C.)
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50
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Vaughn MJ, Laswick Z, Wang H, Haas JS. Functionally Distinct Circuits Are Linked by Heterocellular Electrical Synapses in the Thalamic Reticular Nucleus. eNeuro 2024; 11:ENEURO.0269-23.2023. [PMID: 38164593 PMCID: PMC10849028 DOI: 10.1523/eneuro.0269-23.2023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2023] [Revised: 11/10/2023] [Accepted: 12/18/2023] [Indexed: 01/03/2024] Open
Abstract
The thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN) inhibits sensory thalamocortical relay neurons and is a key regulator of sensory attention as well as sleep and wake states. Recent developments have identified two distinct genetic subtypes of TRN neurons, calbindin-expressing (CB) and somatostatin-expressing (SOM) neurons. These subtypes differ in localization within the TRN, electrophysiological properties, and importantly, targeting of thalamocortical relay channels. CB neurons send inhibition to and receive excitation from first-order thalamic relay nuclei, while SOM neurons send inhibition to and receive excitation from higher-order thalamic areas. These differences create distinct channels of information flow. It is unknown whether TRN neurons form electrical synapses between SOM and CB neurons and consequently bridge first-order and higher-order thalamic channels. Here, we use GFP reporter mice to label and record from CB-expressing and SOM-expressing TRN neurons. We confirm that GFP expression properly differentiates TRN subtypes based on electrophysiological differences, and we identified electrical synapses between pairs of neurons with and without common GFP expression for both CB and SOM types. That is, electrical synapses link both within and across subtypes of neurons in the TRN, forming either homocellular or heterocellular synapses. Therefore, we conclude that electrical synapses within the TRN provide a substrate for functionally linking thalamocortical first-order and higher-order channels within the TRN.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mitchell J Vaughn
- Department of Biological Sciences, Lehigh University, Bethlehem 18015, Pennsylvania
| | - Zachary Laswick
- Department of Biological Sciences, Lehigh University, Bethlehem 18015, Pennsylvania
| | - Huaixing Wang
- Department of Biological Sciences, Lehigh University, Bethlehem 18015, Pennsylvania
| | - Julie S Haas
- Department of Biological Sciences, Lehigh University, Bethlehem 18015, Pennsylvania
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